The adventures of a gentleman in search of a horse

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ADVENTURES

OF A GENTLEMAN

IN SEARCH OF A HORSE.

By caveat emptor, Gent.,

One, &;c. ^"

Verbum sapienti :— " A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse."

Trin. Coll. Dublin.

FOURTH EDITION.

LONDON

SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET.

MDCCCXXXTII.

^^\

J. RIDER, PRINTER,

«CCCESSOB TO THE LATE S. BAOSTEK, JUN.,

14, Bartholomew Close. London.

SIR JOHN GURNEY, Knt.,

4c. &,c. SiC

My Lord,

When the following pages were
begun, the object was simply to amuse some
saucy boys w^ith whom Heaven has blest my
fire-side ; their laugh, however, was shared
by grown-up children, who were good-
naturedly pleased to suggest that the addi-
tion of a little practical information might
give a value to the preliminary nonsense ;
and finally, my printer, (who has long toiled
with me in graver occupations, and whose

retrospect of a useful and benevolent life
a2

IV

is now, I trust, soothing the pain of its last
hours,*) was of opinion that children, both
old and young, might be protected by my
experience, against one abundant class of
the many frauds with which the metropolis
abounds. No man needs much arQ;ument
to satisfy his vanity that he is wiser than
his neighbours, and consequently may pub-
lish for the benefit of mankind : if nature
has made us gregarious animals, the tame-
ness of social pleasures tempts every cox-
comb to single himself from the herd, and
the press supplies a ready opportunity for
gratifying the wish. Hence, as 1 pretend
to no greater modesty than usually falls to
the lot of an attorney, my first 150 pages
were set up within a month ; to take their
chance of immortality or dusty shelves !
It occurred to me, about this period of

* Soon after the f rst edition was published, Mr. S. Bagster,
.Tun. died. It is with difficulty that I restrain myself from dwelling
on the Christian cheerfulness of his end, in perfect keeping with
his life ; but the subject is too serious for a work like this, and
I forbear. -C. E.

my labours, to be consulted professionally
on a question of warranty. I ransacked
my law library, I groped through my
reports, I catechized my pleader, and finally
I advised my client ; and I believe that he
left my office almost as wise as he came.
It was not my fault — I had law of all kinds
for him ; there were works on landlord
and tenant, works on principal and agent,
works on libel, on shipping, on pleading,
on powers, on every subject under heaven,
cmn quibusdam aliis, with the single excep-
tion of horse-dealing warranty !* It was a

* Had I been aware of it when my first edition was published,
I should have made an exception to this sweeping remark. An
anonymous work was published in 1825 by Clarke, of Portugal
Street. It is strictly of a professional character, and not very
accurate ; but I have derived some useful hints from it, and a
knowledge of some cases which had escaped my previous re-
searches. It is entitled " The Laws relating to Horses." It does
not appear to have reached a second edition, nor is it to be found
in the law catalogues : hence it had escaped my notice ; but
after all, it was published ten years ago, and new law is almost as
valuable now, as Coke upon Littleton was then !

While I thus acquit myself of all intentional injustice to this
anonymous writer, I must at the same time, in fairness to my

VI

reproach to ray profession ; I resolved to
wipe away the stain, and add to my work
a treatise on warranty. My printer chimed
in with my fancy. In these days of law
reform, why should not law libraries par-
take of innovation ? Even an attorney's
eyes are wearied with the incessant con-
templation of white calf and red-lettered
bindings ; and it must be an agreeable
novelty to find a circuit companion illus-
trated by Cruikshank's engravings.

But why do I presume to inscribe to your
Lordship this anomalous and anonymous
medley of science, law, and nonsense ?

I hope, if you will condescend to refer

readers, declare that Ms general doctrines on the subject of sound-
ness, and perhaps on some other points, if I were disposed to be
ill-natured, are not such as I could implicitly adopt, and of course,
therefore, are not such as I could recommend to them. I shall
hereafter allude to some of them which appear to vindicate this
criticism. Nor is even the grammatical accuracy of his style,
(vide pages 29, et sequent.) such as to give confidence in his
learning. I have since picked up a similar work published to-
wards the end of the last century, but not more entitled to notice
Than the preceding.

vn

to that part of the following pages which
treats of warranty, you will find that it
is not unworthy of legal attention upon a
difficult and insulated subject of frequent
occurrence at Wist Prius. I have endea-
voured to introduce every case that is re-
ported, directly or indirectly bearing upon
the topic of horse-dealing, and to deduce
from them, as far as it is possible to do so
from very conflicting authorities, a clear
impression of the existing law. If I have
succeeded in this novel attempt, notwith-
standing the quaint dress in which my law
appears, and which is perhaps best cal-
culated to obtain the notice of that class
of society to w^hich the subject is most
important, I shall enjoy the satisfaction of
partially relieving the courts from a mass
of litigation peculiarly painful to good
feeling, on account of the perjury that it
always involves.

Nor will it be a less gratification to me
to feel, that if I thus succeed in somewhat
purifying the atmosphere of Westminster

vni

Hall, my little work will prove itself not an
unworthy tribute of grateful respect to your
Lordship, to whose skill and acuteness as
my counsel I have been indebted for success
ill every cause in which I was engaged
before your elevation to the bench ; and
from whom, from the commencement of
my professional career, some fourteen years
ago, I have received, though except pro-
fessionally, a stranger, invariable kindness,
courtes}^, and attention.

I have the honour to be.

With great respect.
Your Lordship's very obedient Servant,

Caveat Emptor.

London f Junej 1836.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In common with all authors who arrive at the
honour of a second edition, I find myself burdened
with heavy debts of obligation : mine indeed, are
so weighty, that after a vain attempt at acquittance
in some haif-dozen lines pithily expressed in an
advertisement on the fly leaf, I am compelled to give
up that convenient form of acknowledgment, and
write an introductory chapter expressly for the
occasion. In marshalling his creditors, to use a
professional phrase, an author generally gives the
public the first rank : I cannot acquiesce in the
fairness of this. There are not half-a-dozen among
the thousand who have laid out their five and six-
pence in the purchase of my first edition, that would
have given me as many pence out of courtesy or
compassion for my wants. They have expended
their money to please themselves : if they got more
than their money's worth, they are obliged to me ;
if they found themselves disappointed, I doubt not
that they have " taken out their change," as I have

in such cases done myself, in liberally abusing the
author for a pickpocket — and then I owe them no
thanks. The account therefore, between me and
the public, is either pretty well balanced, or the
difference is in my favour.

The next class of creditors on an author's grati-
tude, are his personal friends. I chance to have
as many of your " good-natured friends" as most
people, but though my heart rises to mention some
among them whom I have long found to be the
most valuable property that I possess, (and that is
saying but very little, I fear, for an author,) I can-
not feel, that on the whole, I owe much acknow-
ledgment to my acquaintance. At all events,
the majority of them have paid themselves in a
way that I did not anticipate. One day I was
hurrying to the sick room of a client to make his
will. Scarcely had I reached the office door when
in rushed another with care and sorrow stamped
on every feature. My professional sympathy began
to rise, for death or insolvency, I thought must be
the cause ; and a long vista of six-and-eightpences
opened on my view. I was not altogether wrong.

" What in the name of wonder is the matter V
I exclaimed.

" I fear she is dying, but you must come and
see her instantly/' I concluded it was his mother.

XI

wife, or sister, and with the tenderness of tone one
naturally adopts on addressing an unexpected
mourner, was beginning to express condolence, at
the same time that I declined intrusion at such a
melancholy moment.

" No nonsense, I beg of you, my dear fellow, for
there is no time to lose. You must come, or the
dealer will swear I killed her !"

His mare, just purchased, was dying of the
colic, and my judgment, not my sympathy, was
required !

So on another occasion, a settlement for w^ant
of which two hearts were all but breaking, was
cruelly interrupted to discuss the symptoms of a
broken wind ! while times out of number have I
been dragged from one end of London to the other,
to criticise a doubtful eye, or a suspected leg, or
what is worst of all, to act as umpire between a
disappointed buyer and an angry dealer. I
owe therefore but little to my friends ; but in dis-
claiming the debt, I entreat them not to misunder-
stand me. I grudge not these kind oflSces — on the
contrary, when time and weather are convenient,
I like the amusement; but I affect no modesty
when I hint to some among them, that Mr. Sewell
or Mr. Field will charge but half-a-guinea for an
opinion worth a hundred such as mine, and more-

Xll

over, that every honest attorney has an innate
aversion to arbitrate a well-conditioned suit at
law. Such remedies are more odious to us than
vaccination was heretofore to the doctors. And
this consideration brings me to the third head
of my discourse, as I have sometimes heard my
reverend friends say, after an hour's prosing that
has neither head nor tail. There is a third class to
whom I owe a heavier obligation than words can
well repay. It consists of those who rightly deem
a London attorney to be the best of all lawyers,
and a sporting lawyer to be the best of all London
attorneys for a horse cause ! I rej oice to say that
I have found this to be a larger class than I had
supposed ; and if any of my readers entertain a
doubt upon the justice of the opinion, (my work
being anonymous,) I beg to refer them to my pub-
lishers, who have special directions to give my
name and address to all who apply with a warranty
in one hand, and an unsound horse in the other.
They will please, however, not to leave their purses
behind them. After this hint, I hope before my
next edition appears, to see Paternoster Row as
well thronged with horseflesh as the Bazaar itself.
I grieve however, in common honesty, to add, that
four times out of five, I have found my new-fledged
clients so decidedly wrong, that even a professional

xm

conscience could not deem them right ; and I have
been compelled to resort to the counsel given by
the justly celebrated Abernethy, "Turn to page
— of ' my hooky line — from the bottom, and there
you will find your case."

I am not yet acquitted of all my obligations.
The weischtiest of all is due to a man whose
name even I do not know. Some few months ago
I was seated on the box of one of the western
coaches, and, as my custom is, entered into deep
converse with my neighbour. In modern times,
this outside seat, though much coveted by casual
travellers, is one of very doubtful comfort. Some-
times you meet with a broken-down squire, who,
having hunted or driven himself into poverty, is
fain to take the reins in hand, as the only resource
for which his habits and neglected education have
qualified him. Being your equal, and perhaps
more than your equal by birth, he soon admits you
into his secret ; and then courtesy forbids the
alternative of silence. Talk with him you must,
but " his talk is of oxen ;" and unless you are more
than half a beast yourself, your forced conversation
soon ends in mutual disgust. I once met with a
bright exception to this rule. In the winter of 1833,
I was travelling through one of the midland coun-
ties, and I found in the coachman a gentleman who

XIV

had dissipated his fortune at college. I discovered
his change of life by mere accident, and asked him
if I v^^as rightly informed ? " Yes, Sir," he replied,
" and changed as my fortunes are, I am contented :
for in the midst of my gaiety, I never was so happy
as now^ that I am earning my bread, and maintaining
my child, by driving seventy miles a-day;" and
I heard that the respectability and unaffected
humility of his deportment, corresponded with the
philosophy of the sentiment. I cannot recall his
name, and if I could, it would not perhaps be right
to publish it : but I believe he is well known in
Derbyshire.

Another character daily found on the box, is
your would-be gentleman, without other pretensions
to the rank than such as tip-top vulgarity of slang
and innate impudence can give him. He has the
flash dictionary by heart — will talk ribaldry by the
hour — afl'ect familiarity with all the titled black-
guards of the day ; and if repulsed by silence, will
retort by rudeness, ere your journey is well
commenced.

But my Jehu, of whom I have almost lost sight,
was one of the good old school of top-boots and
twenty capes. We entered into the mystery
of horse-flesh with equal pleasure and mutual
edification. We expatiated on the merits and

XV

demerits of his team — discussed their diseases —
reckoned their cost, and pitied their fate. We
digressed into the price of hay and com, the roguery
of corn chandlers, horse dealers, and hay salesmen ;
and I verily believe we were both sorry to terminate
our gossip at the journey's end.

" You loves bosses. Sir, and so do I : poor
creturs ! and them as doesn't desarves the halter."

" It is such people," I replied, "that make them
vicious."

" Sure enough. Sir ; if so be as a horse is
scientifically managed, he is the gentlest cretur on
earth." I was amused at the expression coming
from untaught lips.

" Scientifically ! do you drive your horses by
science ?"

" No, Sir, not exactly ; though there be more
science in it than yon jackanapes," pointing at
one of the gentry I have described, who was then
passing us on an Oxford coach with his horses
wide enough to admit a flock of sheep ; " seems
to have a notion of; but I mean the treatment of
'em, which you seem to have thought on yourself."

" I have picked up a little by the way, in travel-
ling through life, but I don't pretend to any
scientific knowledge."

XVI

" Well, an' you did, there be many as don't know
half as much, who think they are deep in't."

I bowed, as the compliment deserved, and felt
elated, but said nothing.

'' If so be, Sir, as you wish for to know more
about it, I can put you in the way."

I bowed again, somewhat humiliated, but still
remaining silent. He proceeded.

" When I bought that ere off leader, it might be
five weeks ago, I thought I was done — he's turned
out a good 'un, tho' ; but as I was saying, when I
bought him he hadn't a leg to stand on ; so I was
going to la about un, but a young chap, a lawyer's
clerk, that I sometimes treats with a drive, (for all
those chaps must learn to drive,) told me it would
cost me a guinea merely to ax counsel's opinion,
and that for less than half the money I might get
my own, if I would buy the book of a brother
chip ; so I bought his book, and soon found that
I was a fool as 'twas, and had no need to be a
bigger by throwing good money after bad ; but
mayhap you've read the book. Sir?"

I felt the jealousy of an author, and replied
somewhat petulantly, " Oh no, I never read such
matters."

" Then you can't do better than buy it."

xvu

" You have not told me the title of it, or the
author's name."

" 'Tis a strange outlandish name ; I can't think
on it; but it's a Mr. Cavey, or some such
thing."

Little dreaming of the impending honour, I
racked my brains in vain to divine the writer, for
coachee could give me no farther help : but he went
on in praise of the volume till at last he quoted
my tandem adventure. '^ Sure as life. Sir, he was
going down hill, and kept the traces tight." My
eyes at length were opened. " Is the authors
name Emptor?" "Ay, Sir, that's the name, but
they have such queer names now-a-days."

I had the self-denial to pretend ignorance of
my own work ; not from modesty, but simply in
the hope of extracting some honest criticism, and I
was not disappointed. I cannot, however, deny
myself the satisfaction of recording the incident,
which happened almost in the very terms in which
I have here described it. I gladly pay this tribute
of gratitude to my unconscious tutor.

I have however, another debt to discharge, to
critics of a different stamp. There is always a
difficulty in referring to avowed criticism : a reply
is ascribed to irritation, the besetting sin of the
scribbling race j while silence is construed as an
b

XVlll

acknowledgment of error. This tacit acknowledg-
ment would be immaterial, were it not that many
of my readers are likely to be found among those
with whom the sporting reviews are familiar.

One of my critics infers that I consider the
purchase of a good horse beyond the limits of
possibility. I do not go quite so far, though I
believe the difficulty to be truly great. I can
assure him that if he wants a good hackney, or a
tolerable hunter, I have a horse of either character
at this moment, that I shall be very happy to sell
to him on reasonable terms.

Another critic is yet more unreasonable. He
acquits me of all sporting pretensions, because,
by an accident explained in the appendix, Mr.
Tattersall's name was erroneously spelt in the
earlier sheets ! He pronounces me guiltless of all
law, because I knew not that a decision of Mr.
Justice Burrough had been overruled in a case to
be " found nowhere," but which he, the critic,
" distinctly remembers" ! ! He writes me down
a cockney, for venturing to complain of a horse-
dealer's insolence ! ! ! And finally, he dubs me a
*^ Londoner," for presuming to fix the price of a
good hackney ! ! ! !

Pauci dignoscere possunt,

Vera bona atque illis multum diversa.

XIX

On some of these learned criticisms I shall com-
ment in their proper place, only remarking here
that the very object and avowed purpose of my
book appear to have been overlooked by the
reviewer. I have in no part of it set myself up as
a teacher to the initiated, or as a guide to the
sportsman or the jockey. On the contrary, I
disclaimed all pretensions of the kind, only offer-
ing the benefit of a little personal experience to
men, who being circumstanced like myself, and
deeply engaged in more important pursuits, might
be glad to receive it, without the cost and trouble
of acquiring it by similar means. It is in this
spirit that I have not even adverted, except acci-
dentally, to that high-priced class of horses which
are usually found in such stables as Anderson's or
Sheward's. Horses of this description are no
usually sought out, except by the professed sports-
man, and the points that recommend them to his
notice are very rarely of consequence, or even of
value, to the every day purchaser.*

* I have seen a lot of splendid horses at Sheward's stables,
within these three weeks ; hut all of them are far beyond the
loftiest ambition of nineteen out of twenty of my friends, for whom
I have already purchased horses for the season. — Note to the Second
Edition.

52

"XX

It has, moreover, been suggested by some, whose
authority I respect, that a work of this kind re-
quires a little more of the pedantry of slang, to
entitle it to a genuine sporting celebrity, while
others have charged me with a little excess the other
way. With all deference, however, to my friendly
critics of either class, I cannot subscribe to the
doctrine that slang phraseology is a necessary ac-
complishment even to a lover of the chase or turf.
Time was when none could claim the gilded spur,
unless the novice had first become familiarized with
the flash dictionary ; but as " damns have had their
day," so have the vulgarities of cockney aspirants ;
and a man may now enter with true Meltonian
ardour into the pleasures of the field, without
disqualifying himself for the elegant intercourse
of the drawing-room when the sport is over.
Sometimes the poverty of our language to express
ideas or actions peculiar to a pursuit which has
not yet attained the dignity of a science, compels
one to adopt the phraseology of the whipper-in ;
and now and then an illustration may be happily
derived from the terse and pointed dialect of the
jockey. To this extent, and no further, I wish to
go ; for I am so old-fashioned as to think that the
familiar use of low language savours more of vul-
garity than of wit.

XXI

In my last edition I took an opportunity of
mentioning a little horse-dealing intercourse which
I had had with Mr. Osborne, Jun. I intended no
'^ personality" by my remarks, but thought it very
fair to show a dealer that the absolutism of his own
yard would not protect him against severe retort.
At the same time I did ample justice to the civility
and attention which I have there received. I have
expunged the whole of the passage in this edition,
not from any doubt of its justice, but simply for
the good humour with which young Osborne
laughed over my retaliation when I mentioned it
to him. I believe both his father and himself to
be infinitely beyond me in practical knowledge
of the horse, but I cannot, in honesty, carry the
compliment farther. On the contrary, I think that
they, in common with almost every other dealer
with whom I have conversed on the subject, would
not manage their business the worse for six months'
study in an attorney's office, and six years' dissec-
tion at the Veterinary College. Why men who
deal in cattle, whatever may be its description,
should depreciate the science of comparative ana-
tomy, or aifect to despise the practical knowledge
acquired by the study of it, is beyond my con-
ception. A man may be cradled in the cow-shed
or the stable ; but unless he makes them his study

XXll

as well as his crib, he is likely to leave them with
little more pretensions to a sound knowledge of his
trade, than the animals who are the subject of it.
Indeed, so convinced have I found some among
them of their own deficiency, that I have to enume-
rate among those to whom I stand indebted for
compliment, several who have requested my opinion
whether they could safely give a warranty of
soundness.

To these, and to many among the London
dealers, I feel greatly obliged for the useful in-
formation which they in turn have given to myself
on practical points on which I felt conscious of
ignorance ; for courtesies of this kind, I have in
particular to thank Mr. Cartwright, a veterinary
surgeon, residing I believe at Epsom, Mr. Woodin,
of Upper Park Place, Park Road, and Mr. Rick-
man, late of the Coronet Brighton coach, and
now driving the Age. I have also, in one or two
instances, derived useful hints in conversation with
Mr, Shackel and Mr. Field. My large obligations
to Mr. Sewell I acknowledge elsewhere.

Having thus wound up my accounts, I will con-
clude with the observation of a witty friend of
mine, whose eye was caught by the title of my
work. " There go two fools to the making of
that book — the man who wrote it, and the man

XXlll

who buys it." Now I am perfectly willing to
bear my share of the witticism, if the public will
be equally ready in vindicating their title to the
other moiety. This is surely a fair proposal, and
worth consideration. If accepted, I will hold the
balance which I began with claiming, richly
overpaid.

Caveat Emptor,

PREFACE

TO THE THIRD EDITION.

In the introductory chapter to my last edition I
challenged the public to make good their title to
share the sarcasm of a witty friend, — " There go
two fools to the making of that book, — the man
who wrote it, and he who buys it." I feel most
grateful that the speedy call for this third edition
acquits me of the greater share of folly : indeed I
begin to doubt the authority of my caustic critic,
and to flatter myself that there is very little folly
on either side !

My adventures, as they become better known,
begin to entail some very whimsical inconveniences.
I alluded to a few of these in my last edition ; but
at the time it appeared, I had not yet experienced
one or two of a very peculiar character, that may
amuse my readers somewhat more than myself.

" Do you know Caveat Emptor ?" inquired a fair
ladv of an intimate friend of mine.

XXV

" Oh, perfectly ! I was well acquainted with him
at Cambridge."

" Are those adventures really true, or the mere
coinage of a fanciful brain ?"

" True to the life. I have seen him at the bottom
of a ditch fifty times ; and rolled in every kennel
within twenty miles of his own door !"

Now this is by no means so agreeable an acknow-
ledgment of my equestrian merits as I could desire,
for the inexperienced in these matters little know
how many unpleasant mishaps are indispensable to
the acquisition of a tolerably firm seat. It is as
little gratifying to one*s self-complacency to be dis-
tinguished as the hero of a hundred falls, as it would
be to hear a daily recapitulation of the hundred
floggings whereby you were converted from a dull
schoolboy into a first-class man : and yet perhaps
it is less annoying on the whole than a predicament
in which I was lately placed of the very opposite
character. A little cross-bred, vicious beast, of
considerable pretensions as to speed, but none at
all to beauty or any other merit, w as " trotted
out" before a circle of ladies and gentlemen, to be
admired previously to a pony race for which his
owner had entered him. His height scarcely ex-
ceeded thirteen hands : a lad who w as to ride him,
mounted him with dexterity, and showed off his

XXVI

paces to advantage. The ov^^ner, out of pure malice
I believe, invited one or tvi^o youths of the party to
follov^^ the groom's example; and thus publicly
challenged to exhibit their address, refusal was of
course impossible, though compliance was yet more
so.* I doubt if Beecher, or Mason, or any of our
crack riders, would have been more successful.
Each of the youths attained the saddle it is true,
but each fell prostrate on the turf, before he was
aware that he was seated : no donkey ever managed
his heels with more dexterity ! The courteous in-
vitation to mount, was liberally extended to every
man in the party, each receiving it with much the
same feelings as one does the good-natured offer of
your drawing-room philosophers to oblige you with
a shock from a galvanic battery, for the entertain-
ment of the company. All declined the honour,
and at last my turn arrived. Had I refused, as
others of less equestrian fame could safely do, my

* Though not much connected with my subject, I cannot help
alluding here to the recent death of Mr. Solloway, a distinguished
rider, who was killed by a fall from his horse at the Abergavenny
steeple-chase. I heartily wish that this melancholy occurrence
may give a check to this dangerous and absurd innovation in
British field sports, useless as regards the improvement of breed,
and only promoted by horse-dealers to gain celebrity for horses
otherwise unsaleable. — C. E.

XXVil

reputation was gone for ever. I had no alternative
though my fate was written before my eyes ; five
times did I bestride the brute, and five times I
measured my length on the green sod, to the infinite
delight of every being present but myself! I had
the satisfaction certainly of seeing the mischievous
owner equally foiled, but as he did not even fracture
a rib, it was after all but a poor revenge. I solemnly
protest against my horsemanship being subjected to
any more of these painful ordeals. I beg it to be
understood by my private friends that I am neither
a horse-breaker, nor a steeple-chacer; but simply
a quiet man, riding for my own amusement, and
perfectly sensible of the value of my own neck ;
unless perchance a pack of hounds should cross
my path, and then I must do as other fools do.

Since the publication of my remarks on the
subject of warranty, I have been favoured with
many suggestions upon that important subject, to
which I should have been glad to give publicity,
had I not in every instance been satisfied on re-
flection of their impracticability. A friend of mine
of great talent, was, a few years since, private
secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He
assured me that nearly half his time was occupied
in acknowledging the receipt of profound schemes
from volunteer statesmen for the discharge of the

XXVIU

national debt. All these schemes were most plaus-
ible and ingenious, except that they uniformly forgot
that for the payment of eight hundred millions,
eight hundred millions must some how or other
be raised ! My warranty reformers are of a very
similar stamp. One and all lose sight of the real
question at issue, which is not whether unsound-
ness is a risk or not, but on whom that risk should
be thrown ; or how far and in what proportion it
should be distributed between the buyer and seller.
The most attentive reconsideration of the subject,
and frequent discussion of it with men best qualified
to judge, have convinced me yet more firmly that
the suggestion of Mr. Sewell, mentioned at page
296, and which I have there endeavoured to reduce
to a practical form, affords the only means of
putting the doctrine of soundness upon an intel-
ligible and simple principle. It is extremely diffi-
cult to move large and influential bodies, especially
where they consist of men like the members of the
Jockey Club, whose official duties relate almost
exclusively to the higher business of the sporting
world : but though the affairs of the turf are of
paramount importance to these exclusives, they
might effect a most important good to the more
humble portion of the community, if they would
condescend so far, by countenancing a judicious

XXIX

plan for establishing a definite construction of
warranties of soundness. Could I hope that my
pages would reach the eyes of such "knowing"
characters, or if they should, that they would
be deemed worthy of attention coming from an
unknown as well as unknowing quarter, I would
urge upon them to give their attention to the ob-
servations I have made on this subject, with a view
either to their adoption or improvement, or at least
to the substitution of some more feasible plan of a
similar kind. Meanwhile a project has lately been
brought before the pubhc, which promises beneficial
effects ; though not quite original in its conception, it
has not been attempted for nearly fifty years. About
the end of the last century a similar scheme was
suggested, and I beheve, to a certain extent, car-
ried into practice. I have been unable to learn
why it was then abandoned, for I have found no
one who can even recollect the circumstance, but
I have reason to doubt if it was then conducted by
persons of talent or character. The object of it is
to concentrate the market in horses, bv establishino-
a general registry, to which buyers and sellers, for
a moderate fee, can have ready access. The office
is not very eUgibly situated at No. 1, Duncannon
Street, Charing Cross: but the principle is so
obviously sound, that locality is of secondary im-

XXX

portance. This principle is simply to record every
horse wanted, or on sale, by its true description :
if this description is true, the purchaser finds
himself suited without further trouble, provided he
only knows what he wants ; and to aid him in this,
the prospectus that I have seen, clearly explains the
technical phraseology in use among the trade for
describing horses. If the description is not true,
the seller pays the penalty for his misrepresenta-
tion, by losing the opportunity of finding a pur-
chaser. Nothing can be more obvious than that
such a plan affords the best means of introducing
sellers to buyers, and buyers to sellers, on terms
on which they are likely to " do business ;" for
they are not brought together at all, except by the
knowledge thus acquired that the one has a horse
to sell, exactly corresponding in the terms used by
the trade, to the description which the other wishes
to buy. If A is in search of " a bay hunter, equal
to fifteen stone, fast, and a good fencer," for which
he will give one hundred guineas, and B has a
horse to sell at that price, which he describes in
ipsissimis verbis^ it is scarcely possible, when A
and B meet on the subject, through the knowledge
of each other's wants thus derived from the Re-
gistry, that they should not deal together. It is
on this simple principle that the whole scheme is

XXXI

founded: and as no stabling is attached to the
estabHshment, it seems impossible that it can in
any way interfere with the business of the trade,
except so far as it facilitates it.

But my principal motive for alluding to it is,
that the projectors have endeavoured to introduce
a plan of warranty, which promises to supersede
much litigation, combined as it is with this de-
scriptive record of the horses on sale. There are
two chief sources of litigation about horseflesh, as
the adventures detailed in the following pages
abundantly prove: either that the purchase does
not answer the warranted description as to quali-
ties and capabilities, or that the horse is unsound
from disease. The first, and perhaps the most
prolific of these sources, is cut off by registering
the description of the horse: for it is for the
interest of the seller to describe him truly, or he is
only introduced to a purchaser that will not buy a
horse " of that sort." If A, for instance, who wants
the hunter I have described, finds, on arriving at
the dealer's stables, that he is introduced to a
common hack, he walks away dissatisfied, and
will not buy : thus B, the seller, will lose his cus-
tomer by his own want of veracity ; while if he
had truly described him as a hack or roadster, he
would have been introduced only to a buyer in

XXXll

search, not of a hunter, but a hack. Hence it
being for the interest of every dealer to describe
the capabilities of his horse correctly, all litigation
on that score, or all returns from mere caprice or
unfitness, are likely to be avoided. The other
source of dispute, unsoundness, can be detected
much sooner than the incapacity of a horse,
where it really exists. It is therefore proposed
by the Registry Office, to limit the warranty of
soundness in every case to four days; this principle
is only partially adopted at Tattersall's, the Bazaar,
and other places of public sale. Though the war-
ranty is there limited to four or five days, the limit
is only by an undertaking that for that interval, the
money shall be retained by the auctioneer or agent.
The warranty still remains, and may be enforced
by the buyer for weeks or months afterwards : thus
the seller is never safe. But the principle of the
Registry is that the warranty itself shall cease
and be utterly void after the stipulated interval,
and that then the horse shall be retained with
all fauitSo

That this is a convenient arrangement to the
seller, is too clear to require demonstration; but
in fact it is not less so to the purchaser ; for it will
aftord him a fair and reasonable time for putting
soundness to the proof; and if on the one hand, it

XXX 111

appears to curtail the duration of his warranty, on
the other, it secures him not only from all doubt
as to the return of his money, should unsoundness
be detected within the stipulated time, but from
all litigation on the question; the office undertak-
ing to return the money on the certificate of a
competent veterinary judge. But every purchaser
ought in prudence to consult a farrier before he
buys, and for this the Registry Office affords great
facilities ; the cases are very rare indeed in which
a skilful veterinarian, such as I know Mr. Woodin,
its surgeon, to be, cannot detect unsoundness within
four days. I think this part of the scheme,
coupled as it is with a descriptive entry of the
horse, almost necessarily true, is likely to make
the Registry a favourite and popular market, when
its character becomes generally known. On con-
versing with persons in the trade on the subject, 1
find that many dealers have countenanced it, and
experienced its advantages, especially Mr. Dye,
Mr. Collins, and one or two whose names I forget ;
but I must acknowledge, that from some very
eminent men at the west end of the town, I have
heard an objection which argues badly for the
honesty even of those who are considered " re-
spectable :" their objection is, that having once
committed themselves to a certain price in the
c

XXXIV

registry book, as £100, for example, they cannot
afterwards, when the purchaser is introduced to
them, take advantage of his ignorance or extrava-
gance, and raise the price to £150 !! ! The ab-
surdity of this objection is not less gross than its
avowed dishonesty ; for surely it is better for
dealers to secure the sale of even one horse at a
fair remunerating price, than to lose the opportu-
nity of cheaply advertising and perhaps selling
a score, lest they should also lose a fancy customer,
who, unless he saw their horses in the Registry,
would never enter their stables at all, unless by
chance. This objection, however, has been
avowed to me by some high men in the trade, as
sufficient to deter them from thus advertising their
studs ! After explaining the motive to my readers,
they will naturally infer that any eminent dealers
whose names are not in the Registry, are men with
whom it is not very safe to " do business," unless
they prefer giving a fancy price to the fair and
honest market value of the horse.

I have entered somewhat largely into the princi-
ple of this Horse and Carriage Registry, not only
because I decidedly approve of the plan, if honour-
ably conducted, (as I have every reason to believe,
from my knowledge of the parties connected with
it, that it will be,) but because I have been very

XXXV

frequently consulted by my friends on the pru-
dence of buying or selling through its agency. I
think it promises great advantage to the public ;
but as anonymous commendation goes for nothing,
it will be better for all parties, whether buyers or
sellers, to visit the office, and examine into its details
for themselves ; it will repay them for their trouble,
simple as the plan of its management appears to
be. My only fear is, as I must honestly avow, that
it will aid those vexatious and ruinous law reforms
which late years have introduced, and annihilate
horse warranty causes altogether. Alas for my un-
fortunate profession ! we are half-starving already !

But I am encroaching on my reader's patience.
I will conclude with sincerely acknowledging on
this occasion, the obligation which I disclaimed on
publishing my last edition. I have endeavoured, in
part, to acquit myself of it by adding a few more
ludicrous adventures, in which it has been my
destiny to take a share. I know from experience,
though less frequent than I could wish, that one
is sometimes more indebted to the friend who will
excite a laugh, (especially after the influenza,)
than to him who will fill your pocket, but leave
depression where he finds it.

Caveat Emptor.

Sth May, 1837.

ADVENTURES.

Weary of my own weight, I sallied forth one
line morning in January, wdth fifty guineas in my
pocket, bent on finding myself w^ell mounted on a
good hackney. It is now the 15th of March, and
I am still without a horse, and minus far more
than fifty guineas, except a right of action against
a dealer, of doubtful solvency. The publication
of my adventures in this Quixotic expedition, and
some fomier ones of a similar character, may pos-
sibly replace a part of my loss ; if not, the next
greatest pleasure to benefiting oneself is to do
good to others ! I will therefore give my friends
the fruits of my horse-dealing experience.

My first recourse w as, naturally enough, to the

advertisements of the papers. Cobs, hunters, and
hacks, were as plentiful as blackberries in Sep-
tember. The difficulty was only where to choose.
" The neatest little cob in London," " the best
hack that ever was mounted," " that well-known
hunter Tantivy, equal to fifteen stone up to any
hounds," all offered themselves to my delighted
eyes ; and away I went, to try them all and buy
the best.

My reader must excuse me for a little digression
to give him some account of myself, so far as re-
gards my equestrian capabilities, otherwise he will
not enter as fully as I could wish, into the merits
of my story. Be it known, then, that I ride rather
more than twelve stone — have a good seat — never
was afraid of a horse in my ]ife — stand about five
feet nine inches ; and being still under middle age,
I am of course far from indifferent whether I am
well mounted. Such I take to be the average
pretensions of nineteen out of twenty gentlemen
in search of a horse.

My first adventure was with a Quaker. There
are few things in which the Society of Friends
evince their characteristic shrewdness more than
in their judgment of horse-flesh. I have a most
sincere respect for them, both in their collective
and individual character. I have long known

many of them, and my acquaintance has taught me
to value and esteem them ; I therefore approached
the owner of the first object of my speculation with
much confidence. It was a well-bred, gay little
gelding, full of life and spirit : and though scarcely
high enough for my taste, I approved and pur-
chased him. Friend Joseph was very precise with
me. " There is the horse, friend ; my price is
thirty guineas."

" Will you allow me to try him. Sir?" " Thou
art a stranger to me, friend -, thou mayest inj ure the
animal, and w^e shall not know who is in fault."

" Will you warrant him, Sir ?" " He has always

carried me well, friend : I believe him to be sound,

but few men are agreed upon what soundness is."

" Is thirty guineas the lowest price?" '^ I have

b2

asked thee what I beUeve to be his just value, and
I shall take no less."

I was satisfied, paid my money, was well
pleased with my purchase for three days ; and
then discovered, what very little reflection might
have told me at first, that the Quaker being two
stone lighter than myself, and presumably a quiet
rider, a horse that would carry him safely, would
in less than a week break his own knees and en-
danger my neck ! But I was not deceived ; he was
a good horse, though not fit for me. I sold him
again, and lost nothing by him. Some time after
he was driven a stage of fourteen miles, and kept
the lead of a chariot and four, with a new married
couple, starting from the church to spend the
honeymoon ! I dare say that my friends will not
have yet forgotten the celerity with which their
first relay was ordered out at Canterbury ; thanks
to the speed of my Quaker.

I resolved that my second purchase should at
all events be strong enough to bear me. I there-
fore pitched upon a cob ; he was, to use the ac-
cepted phrase, " built like a castle ;" there was
"no nonsense about him," most assuredly; but he
unluckily moved like a castle ! I have the greatest
aversion to a horse that " won't go;" it is an eternal
trial of one's temper ; many a time has the provoca-

tion brought me within an ace of Martin's penal-
ties. My " castle" had " no go " at all in him.
When I first brought him out of the seller's stable,
he seemed as gay as a lark ; but I suppose he had
not been used for a twelvemonth ; at the end of a
mile all his " pluck" was gone^ and my wrath began :
my spurs were sharp, but he kicked ! A good ash-
stick brought him to his senses, and restored the
equilibrium ; nay, it did more, it actually compelled
a canter, and if my arm only had been in fault, T
had still strength enough left, to have coaxed the
canter into a gallop ; but, alas ! when we arrived at
that focus of roads and confusion. Battle-bridge,
whether it was that he knew not which course to
take, I cannot say, but he paused in his full career
so abruptly, that I found myself upon his neck,

6

instead of his back, and had he advanced another
yard I should undoubtedly have found my own
back on the ground. I decided on my course at
once — I walked him to the Veterinary College;
ascertained that his wind was as thick as his car-
case, and sold him at Osborne's the next day to
" a timid old gentleman," for whom he was exactly
suited.

My third attempt was somewhat more promising.
A very respectable stable-keeper, with whom I
had had former transactions, introduced me to
an old hunter of his acquaintance. I must own
that I entertain great distrust of your hunters
converted into hacks ! but the introduction was
good ; the horse was gay ; and the tout ensemble
favourable ; he had but one fault, so far as a day's
trial could discover. He would neither pass nor
be passed, either by stage, omnibus, or hackney-
coach ! a matter of not the slightest consequence
in Leicestershire ; but rather inconvenient in Ox-
ford Street.

I was speedily remounted ; nothing is more easy
in London. " A charming goer ; so docile that a
lady might drive him with a pack-thread," found
me seated on his back within eight and forty hours.
His charms were thrown away upon me, and mine
were equally powerless with him ; his faults were

two-fold — he had neither legs to carry hhn, nor
mind to go; much less with twelve stone on his
back ; and after much solicitation, equally painful
on both sides, I discovered to my chagrin that he
would make an excellent gig-horse, but had an
insurmountable objection to the saddle ! He was
sold at the Bazaar to a butcher, who seemed as
well satisfied with his purchase, as I was to get
rid of him.

Another '^ charming " brute attracted my atten-
tion. I am not much of a dandy at any time, but
by some confounded ill-luck, I went to the stables
on this occasion, in a new coat, new hat, new
trowsers, and with as fashionable an exterior as the
gloss of a tailor's shop can give. To make matters
worse, I wore, what I seldom use, an eye-glass.
The consequence was inevitable. The " sweetest
little park horse that ever was crossed" was of course
the "very thing I wanted." I thought so too ; but
the good nature of the dealer saved my pocket, what-
ever might be his good intentions ; I was allowed
to make trial of him. We danced a quadrille to-
gether with every gentleman and lady that we met
mounted in Hyde Park, and I soon found that the
lovely creature was better suited to Almack's, than
to me. He passaged away in style by the band of
the Guards, till every soldier grinned a salute, and

8

no rhetoric of mine could divert him from his obvious
purpose of escorting them to the palace. Once in-
deed, I prevailed on him to turn his head, but it was
only to passage the other way, with his rump instead
of his face to the troops. At last, in sheer des-
peration, I plunged both spurs in him at once ; he
gave a spring that would have cleared a horse and
gig, and then fairly bolted ; running at speed to
his stables again ! I would as soon fondle a mad
dog as take such another dance with a dandy !

However men may differ as to her doctrines, we
all approve of Miss Martineau's synthetical method
of reasoning : I shall, with all humility, follow her
example. I conclude my first chapter (it might
well be called the chapter of accidents) by advising
my reader before he starts upon a similar expedi-

tioii, to ask himself seriously the question, what sort
of a horse he wants ? It is a curious, though an
undoubted truth, that not one man in fifty ever
thinks of taking this ordinary precaution. Of
course, I do not include professed sportsmen,
whether in the field or on the turf : they generally
" understand their business," and set to work ac-
cordingly ; but there are some hundreds, perhaps
thousands, who at the approach of summer must
needs buy a horse, and, like myself, consider it
much the same thing as buying a boot-jack !

To answer this question properly, there are many
points to be considered : the first essential is for a
man to inform himself honestly, whether he is a
good or a bad rider. Sir Walter Scott, with his
usual knowledge of human nature, justly remarks
that there are few men under twenty who would
not feel more ashamed of an imputation against
their horsemanship than their morality. The age
might be greatly extended; yet I believe that there
is not one man in a hundred who can acquire a
good seat on horseback, if he has not been accus-
tomed to the saddle from boyhood. The riding-
school may correct a few faults, but it will never
make an adult pupil a perfect master of his horse.
If a man does not possess this advantage, he cannot

10

do a more foolish thing than buy a horse at random,
merely because it has the outward qualifications
that please his eye. I may add too, that even in
point of appearance, a bad rider will look more
ungraceful upon a spirited, high-mettled horse,
however showy, than on an animal of more mode-
rate pretensions, but whose temper is more in ac-
cordance with the timidity of his rider. Where,
however, a man is less ambitious of show than
comfort, he cannot be too careful to ascertain with
certainty the extent of his riding powers : nor need
he feel ashamed of asking a dealer's opinion on this
point ; for there is not a man in the trade who
cannot tell, the instant he is mounted, whether his
customer can ride. This preliminary inquiry is of
great importance for another reason. An inex-
perienced or timid rider will often throw his horse
down by the roughness or carelessness with which
he manages his bridle. The paces of a horse are
materially affected by the rein : a sudden check or
a violent grasp of the curb, will not unfrequently
give a tender-mouthed horse such pain, as, to quote
the emphatic expression that I once heard from an
ostler, to ^^ strike him all of a heap" — the abrupt-
ness of the restraint impedes his action, and makes
him stumble over his own legs.

11

These hints will be useful to a man who is con-
scious of his own deficiency; but there are other
suggestions that are valuable even to those who
have no reason to distrust their horsemanship.

There are not many men who are acquainted
with their own weight with any degree of accu-
racy ; yet the importance of even a few pounds
more or less upon the back of a horse, will be felt
immediately by observing the consequence attached
to it on the turf; the difference of four pounds
extra weight will always be found materially to
affect the betting upon a horse. It is scarcely
necessary to remind the reader that his riding
weight is always calculated at a stone above
his actual weight; that allowance being usually
made for the saddle and bridle. Perhaps there is

12

no single cause that so frequently brings horses
down, as their being over-weighted. A dull horse
with scarcely a stone more than he is accustomed
to bear, will turn sulky and careless ; the rider
becomes impatient, and urges him to exertion ;
the usual pace of the horse is broken, and a fall is
the natural result.

Closely allied to this suggestion is another of
equal moment — to consider well the nature of the
work you require your horse to perform. I shall
reserve what I have to say about the choice of
horses for draught, for another chapter ; but it is
not out of place to notice here a very common error.
There is not one horse in fifty that is adapted both
for the saddle and for harness. I once had a gal-
loway that rarely stumbled in harness, though he
would not have carried the best rider, of feather
weight, half a dozen miles without as many falls.
Yet he was perfectly sound, and continued sound
for five years that he remained in my possession.

To return from this digression; if the object is
only a daily ride of half a dozen miles to and from
the counting-house, any horse not over-weighted
is, if sound, fully equal to the work ; but if the
distance materially exceeds ten or twelve miles
a- day, it is by no means every horse that can per-
form it : more especially if the rider is averse to

13

frequent walking or to a slow pace. Some gentle-
men are fond of long rides, and will prefer the saddle
to a stage even for a journey of forty or fifty miles.
After much observation, I am inclined to think that
there are very few horses to be found that are ca-
pable of carrying weight, without distress, for more
than fifty miles in the course of a day ; or to bear
the repetition, even of this, in the course of the
same week, without injury. At all events it is safer
to estimate the powers of a horse at a much lower
rate, and to consider thirty miles a good day's
journey; and two such journeys as a fair week's
work.

The last hint that I shall oflfer on this topic, is
to decide, in the first instance, the limit in price ;
and having settled "the figure," to allow no horse-
dealing oratory to change the determination. I
may observe that a horse, which is really good and
exactly adapted to a man's purpose, is dear at no
price ; but it by no means follows that because a
high price is asked or even refused, that the horse
is worth it. Putting hunters and race-horses out
of the question, a hundred guineas ought to buy
the best hack in England ; three-fourths of that
price is more than the value of ninety-nine out of
a hundred, with every advantage of strength and
action j and fifty guineas should at any time pur-

14

chase such a horse as a gentleman need not blush
to own ; but it may safely be assumed that all the
horses advertised for sale at twenty and thirty
pounds, are aged, unsound, vicious, or in some way
or other unsafe purchases for any man that has a
reasonable respect for his own limbs. I have been
reproached for this estimate of the value of a good
hack. It is considered by the soi-disant knowing
ones as savouring too much of the cockney style
thus to affix a given value to that which is usually
supposed to be arbitrary or accidental. To this I
reply, that I am speaking of horses as they are
found in the London market ; and of prices as they
are commonly asked by London dealers : the ac-
cidental hits of sporting life are too numerous and
too mystified also for my calculation : they are
beyond the doctrine of chances ; but in reference
to a market price, I see no reason to retract a word
of what I have written ; and though as little of a
" Londoner" as a man born in another hemisphere
some four thousand miles from the sound of Bow-
bells can pretend to be, I write for the benefit of
" Londoners," not of Meltonians. I have found
among these despised "Londoners," during twenty
years' acquaintance with them, not only some of
the most intelligent and most amiable men of their
day, but as polished minds as St. James's can pro-

15

duce ; (a doubtful compliment, it must be owned !)
and what may appear yet more extraordinary to
the readers of the Sporting Magazine, unless they
are familiar with Nimrod's letters, as bold riders
and as accomplished sportsmen as could be found
in the Quorn hunt even in its best days. London
is not less proverbial for its fine horses than for
the beauty of its women and the talents of its men.
To return to my subject, — I flatter myself that
my reader by this time knows his own mind, and
duly appreciates the importance of doing so, before
he goes into the market ; I will therefore proceed
to introduce him to some of my horse-dealing
acquaintance.

It is long since I have arrived at the settled
conviction that it is very inexpedient to buy a
horse from a gentleman, and downright folly to do
so if that gentleman is yom- friend.

A gentleman will never sell a good horse if he
can help it ; if circumstances compel him to part
with it, it may be reasonably assumed that the
character of the horse is well known in his owner's
immediate circle, and that he would never find his
way into the public market.

Once, and once only, I broke through this rule;
a gentleman had a very beautiful and apparently a
valuable horse to sell. I was acquainted with the
horse as well as with his owner. I knew that he had
been in his possession for above a year, and I had
reason to think that he would not have kept him a
week if he were not a sound and serviceable animal.

17

He was offered to me for fifty guineas ; the price
was certainly moderate for a horse of such extraor-
dinary appearance, and I promptly and thankfully
accepted the offer. He was brought home in high
condition, and I immediately set him to work. For
about a week all went on well ; I never was so
gaily mounted in my life : I might have sold the
horse ten times over for double the money, but I
was too well pleased with my bargain.

At the expiration of a week my groom began to
look crusty, and told me with a very long face that
he must be ill, for he refused his corn. I desired
him to wash out the manger. *' I have, Sir, but it
won't do."

" Perhaps the corn is musty?"

** It can't be that. Sir, for it only came in yes-
terday, and he won't touch the hay any more than
the oats."

I tried him with the sweetest corn I could buy,
and every variety of hay, but in vain ; for three
days he eat nothing. I sent him to the Veterinary
College : his teeth were found to be sharp, and
they were filed down ; no other fault could be
discovered ; I took him home again, but feed he
would not. I sent him to livery, thinking that my
stables might possibly be in some way offensive
c

18

to him. He remained at livery a week, and his
appetite being quite restored, I had him home
again. For two or three days all was right, but
then his corn was again neglected, and I sent him a
second time to the College to be physicked. In a
very few days he returned as ravenous as a hawk,
but another week found him in his former state ;
and at length I guessed at the truth — not that he
would not feed, but would not work ! I tried him
upon this principle for a week, and then my corn
was as palatable to him as my neighbour's. I
did not buy him for the pleasure of looking at him,
so I sent him to Osborne's ; for between friends
warranties of course are out of the question. He
was sold in less than an hour for the same money
that I had given for him, and he was returned
in less than a week for the same reason that I had
parted with him. I refused to take him back.

" But you warranted him. Sir."

*' Yes, to be sure I did ; I warranted him sound,
but not to eat !" To this there was of course no
answer, except a reference to the College. He
was examined and passed as sound : the purchaser
resold him for more than he had given me for him ;
and I afterwards learnt that he was sold six times
over that summer, and always returned for the

19

same reason ! I took an opportunity of asking
the gentleman from whom I bought him, how he
had brought him into such good condition?

" Nothing more easy — I fed him for a month on
chopped clover, bran, and malt, fermented by a
little yeast."

This is the way to pickle a horse for a friend !

Soon after the first edition appeared, I had an
opportunity of inquiring into the subsequent his-
tory of this horse. It is worth mentioning. He
continued sickly for several months : towards winter
he was sent down into the salt marshes, where he
remained nearly a year. On being taken up, his
stomach had recovered its tone ; he worked well
and fed heartily, and ever since he has proved a
useful horse.

But to resume my narrative. I mounted many
a slug and many another dandy before 1 again ven-
tured to buy, and examined at least ten times more
than I mounted. The "picture of a horse" was
the next that fell to my lot. I wanted some-
thing more substantial, it is true ; but a " perfect
picture" has attractions for every eye, and mine
was of course captivated.

" To be sold, for only half his value, under
peculiar circumstances, which will be satisfactorily
explained, a beautiful grey gelding. For strength
c2

20

and symmetry he stands unrivalled; he is a perfect
picture of a horse, and goes so pleasantly : he is
well known in the Surrey. Warranted in every
respect. Apply to A.Z.," &c.

I found the above description in the columns of
the Times, and notwithstanding its elegance of
grammar and style, I made all allowances for the
education of a Surrey sportsman, and left my card
at his stables. There was a something about the
look of the stables that I did not like — an inde-
scribable negativetiess of appearance. There was no
groom; he was out, exhibiting his *^ picture;" there
was no key to the door ; there was no manure piled
up under the window ; there was no learning any
thing about the horse, or the owner, or even the
place itself; but then my call was unseasonably
early, and though I recollected these matters after-
wards, they made but a faint impression at the time.
I went away for an hour or two, and then repeated
my visit. The " picture" was produced and ex-
hibited ; and certainly he had not been unfairly
described; he was a fine-looking horse, of great
power and spirit ; but why was he sold ?

" Master had been unlucky, and was going abroad
for the summer." Delicacy of course forbade
more minute inquiry ; I cared not whether he ab-
sconded to avoid a dun or a halter, provided the

21

horse were sound : the cause of separation was
very sufficiently explained, and I soon found that
the animal was " well known in the Surrey." Forty
guineas was but a moderate figure ; and after less
than an hour's trial, I paid the money, stipulated
that the saddle and bridle should be thrown into the
bargain, and rode him away at a round trot ; afraid
of leaving him till my servant might bring him, lest
some more active bidder should anticipate me in
the interim. We liked each other very well for
the first twelve hours ; but, in pursuance of an old
habit of mine with a new purchase, I rode my hunter
at a smart pace over the stones both in going and
returning to the city, and the next morning he was
dead lame ! I had taken no warranty, for where
was the value of one from a man confessedly insol-
vent ? I had no remedy, but for the farrier to make
the best of it. He was examined — not a trace of
disease appeared ; his shoes were removed, and
then we found the marks of an old wound that
had no doubt established his fair fame "in the
Surrey ;" some time or other, though not recently,
he had staked his foot. I was well assured that
the brute was lame for life, and I sold him to the
farrier himself for £15 on speculation !

Nothing daunted, I set off once more to examine
" a sweet mare got by Tickleback out of Muley's

22

dam, by Fireaway, sire by Cockchafer, Skyscraper,
Run-the-rig/' and so on, a pedigree as long as her
tail. She too belonged to "a gentleman." I was
determined to see my " gentleman" this time. A
sort of nondescript, half gentleman, half jockey,
but with the word rogue as legibly written on his
face as if it had been tattooed there, came forward.
" Bought her for breeding, Sir; won't do; dropped
three fillies running. Sweetest creature that ever
was crossed, but won't breed a colt, and she
must go."

I cared not a sous whether she dropped colts or
fillies, so long as she did not drop me.

" Do you warrant her. Sir ?"

" Warrant her ! to be sure : I'll warrant her to
fly with you."

" Will you warrant her sound ?"

'^ Tickleback sound ! why she's as well known
at Tattersall's as myself ! ! !"

I was by no means satisfied, but in decency I
could press the point no farther ; I liked her looks,
and thought the best policy was to assume that
his intentions were good. I told him I would send
a check by my servant, and would trouble him to
send back a receipt with the usual warranty, and
left him. In a couple of hours John brought home
the mare and the receipt. "How does she go.

23

John?" " Pretty well, Sir." I saw the rascal was
drunk, and asked him for the receipt. He fum-
bled first in this pocket and then in the other, and
at last produced an unstamped acknowledgment
for the money, but not a word of warranty ! The
next morning, when sober, he owned that ''the
gentleman" had given him half a crown, and " the
gentleman's" groom had helped him to spend it !
The rest was easily explained ; " the gentleman"
was gone to Melton or Newmarket instead of
Tattersall's — but the mare went there : was cer-
tainly "as well known" as I could wish; it was
the only word of truth the fellow had spoken. She
had slipped her hip in foaling, and had been sold
three times in three months, at an average price of
ten pounds ! I lost only twenty by her, and
thought myself a lucky dog.

I had not yet had enough of '^ gentlemen !" A
chesnut horse was advertised for sale at some
livery stables of the first respectability. He was
'^ bona fide the property of a gentleman, but too
high-couraged for his riding, and parted with for
no fault." The advertisement ended here, and the
absence of all the usual encomiums persuaded me
that the^ description was true. My eye does not
often deceive me as to the external pretensions of
a horse : the animal in question was beautiful.

24

and his action good. I inspected and handled
him minutely ; I picked up every foot, passed my
hand down every leg, and found neither fault nor
blemish. I mounted him, and rode him for an
hour. I was satisfied, and bought him, taking care
this time to obtain my w^arranty myself. For two
whole days he did justice to his owner's repre-
sentations. On the third day I was too much
occupied to ride; but the following morning I
hurried to the stables, resolved to make up for lost
time. No sooner was my foot in the stirrup than,
with the cunning of a monkey, he raised his near
hind foot and shoved the stirrup-iron away. He
repeated this fun two or three times; I tried on
the off side, but he was as clever there ! " Off with
the saddle, John, we'll try him without:" but the

25

sly'rogue was up to me ; he crouched like a camel.
" Pick up his fore-leg, John." Nor would that do :
he reared, broke away from two men who were
helping, and galloped up the ride. A full hour
was spent by me, and every man in the yard, to get
across him, but all in vain; defeated and mortified
I returned home, leaving directions to sell him.
My warranty did not extend to safety in mounting !
I had not been home an hour, before word was
brought that he had kicked an ostler and laid him
up ! I was of course bound to indemnify as well
as cure the sufferer ; and sent the savage brute to
Osborne's. The next morning a second groom re-
ceived a kick that cost me another guinea. I sent
him to the hammer as a vicious horse. He was
sold for more than he cost, but not until he had
sent me a third claimant for compensation ! It
was a dealer that bought him, and he certainly
found a discipline to cure his vice. He killed him
in less than a month !

I was curious to learn the reason of his extreme
docility for the first three days after I had him.
By a fee to some of the understrappers at the
stables I soon arrived at the truth. He had been
tied up to the rack both day and night for a week
before, and never allowed to sleep except standing !

26

enough to tame a tiger, it must be confessed. I
lost nothing by him, however, and I gained both a
specific for a vicious horse, and a wholesome ap-
prehension of ^' gentlemen/' But I was not yet
cured of my prepossessions in favour of my caste.
I bought two more horses of " gentlemen:" both
were of very amusing character and behaviour.
One of these "gentle" animals spilt me at my own
door ere I was fairly in the saddle. Expecting
any thing but a summerset, before I was bona fide
mounted, she gave a plunge that made me within
five seconds describe a parabolic curve to the
ground at her off shoulder ! It was an old trick,
but the warranty did not extend to vice ! The
other case was that of a mare of noble lineage,
bred by an illustrious earl. She carried me fairly
enough till we chanced to meet a landau filled with
ladies taking their morning drive. I was about
to salute them, seeing some acquaintance in the
party, and checked her for the purpose. The un-
graceful brute threw up her heels, and by way of
showing off her rider, as well as her own agility,
fairly ran some fifty or a hundred yards exclusively
on her fore legs. Her hind ones ascended alter-
nately like the stampers in an oil mill, or, more
correctly speaking, her action resembled one of the

27

Harlequin jackanapes that tumble about a fair,
converting their arms into legs, and walking on
their hands, nobody knows how.

Half a score of similar misfortunes at length
satisfied me, that gentlemen-dealers are little better
than arrant knaves, and I turned my attention
elsewhere. I rambled as chance led me into a
dealer's stables. Twenty horses were at my service
in a moment. One was a noble animal. " Will
you see him out, Sir?" " By all means;" and
after due preparation he was trotted out in style.
His paces were good ; his legs were clean : I tried
him by the usual tests, and could find no fault.
" Put the saddle on, Tom ; the gemman will try
him." I declined the trial, for it was clear fi-om
the sweat remaining on his withers that he had

28

just been brought in. " I will call again to-
morrow/' I replied.

"At what hour, Sir?"

" At nine o'clock," and away I went. I did not
altogether like the men; they looked too knowing;
but I fully meant to keep my word, and I did so ;
not, however, without a Uttle precaution. I went
to a sharp, intelligent ostler, whom I knew I could
trust, (not for past, but prospective benefits,) and
desired him to meet me at the place exactly at
half-past eight. I told him to walk through the
stables, keep his eye on all that passed, but not to
know me when I arrived. He obeyed my instruc-
tions to the letter. At nine o'clock, according to
appointment, I came. My horse was produced, but
to my surprise he was warm and in a sweat, even
at that early hour : he was again " trotted out." I
asked no questions, and civilly wished them good-
morning, I inquired of my piquet what he had
noticed before my arrival. " He was brought out
half an hour before, Sir, with legs like mill-stones.
I asked if he was sold, and they told me a gentle-
man had agreed to buy him. They trotted him up
and down the street for a quarter of an hour just
to fine his legs, and were rubbing him down when
you came in !"

I proceeded to the next stables; a well-bred

29

little horse seemed to correspond with my wishes,
and on trial he suited my taste. '* What is the
figure ?" " Twenty pounds." My suspicions were
awakened, but I said nothing. He went freely,
and neither stumbled nor shied. I gave him the
reins and galloped him above a mile, most of it at
speed. His wind was good ; he was aged, but
showed no symptoms of over-work. I could not
detect unsoundness, and I bought him, warranted.
The next day he walked against a brick-wall, and
for the first time I discovered that he was blind !
yet it was only scientific inspection that could have
found even a blemish in his eyes. Blindness is
not unsoundness in horse-dealing law, whatever
it might be deemed by Sir James Mansfield : I
therefore sold him and sustained no loss ; on the
contrary I gained, as in a former instance, a
valuable lesson for nothingo

I am selecting the most instructive cases only,
and therefore pass by scores of other mishaps
like this. I ran the gauntlet through Osborne's,
Tattersall's, and the Bazaar, and between the one
and the other learnt that in a horse-dealer's esti-
mation, unsoundness does not and cannot exist — ■
in a farrier's judgment every horse in creation is
unsound unless the seller is his customer. I went
to a very celebrated place (I dare not mention

30

names), and after describing my necessities to Mr.

H , requested him to go round the stables

with me. He cheerfully complied.

" That chesnut cob is a likely horse. Will you
see him out ?"

" Is he warranted V

'' Certainly."

" Then trot him out."

He blundered at starting ; I held my peace, but
examined him narrowly.

" He has a thrush, Mr. H ."

" Oh no. Sir, nothing of the kind,"

" But look at him."

" I see nothing."

" Smell the foot."

" 'Tis a little stale, Sir : but a thrush is no un-
soundness,"

A dark bay mare attracted my notice : she was
brought out.

" She goes tenderly, Mr. H ."

" Her feet have not been stopped this day or two :
she will go right enough when she is in work."

" I doubt it ; I think she has a screw loose."

" What's the matter ?"

I examined her closely, and found one foot con-
tracted : I pointed out the defect : Mr. H

was incredulous.

31

" She is as sound as a roach, Sir."

" She has not been so long ; there has been
violent inflammation within these two months, or
that foot would never be so contracted."

" There is not a hair's difference between her
feeV

I took up a straw and measured them ; the dif-
ference was nearly half an inch.

" Put her in again, the gentleman is no buyer.'*
But I was a buyer, and an anxious one ; so I
soothed my guide into good humour, and he at
length introduced me to a very promising active cob.

" That's your horse. Sir ! he is worth any money :
put the saddle on, and try him."

" Not till I have examined him, you may be
sure. What is that grey mark above the knee-
joint?"

^* He got loose a few months ago, and entangled
himself in the halter."

" The groom, then, deserved a halter : but let
me look a little closer."

I instantly perceived a corresponding mark below
the knee (the usual traces of wearing a knee-cap),
and had him put to his trot. His action was
uncommonly high, and this of course led me to
minute scrutiny, when I found traces of the
speedy cut.

32

" Do you call that unsound, Sir ? All horses
with good action will cut themselves at times."

His patience however was not quite exhausted.
The next horse had a splent ; the next a spavin ;
a third showed the recent extirpation of a corn ;
and a fourth exhibited symptoms of the mange.

** Upon my word, Sir, you'll say next that a
horse is unsound if one ear is longer than the other !
you won't find a horse here to suit you, I assure

you."

I thought so too and decamped, yet I believe
there were not less than a hundred all warranted
or to be returned in a week.

I must request my readers to substitute Mr.

X. Y. Z. for Mr. H , throughout the preceding

pages ; for, such is the tenderness of conscience
in all the horse-dealing fraternity, that at least a
dozen individuals have accused me of meaning

them by Mr. H . " A pretty figure you

have made of me, Sir," exclaimed the first man I
met, after my work came out.

" You, my friend ! I have not mentioned your
name."

" Ay, but all the world knows who you mean by
Mr. H , and so does my attorney !"

The man's name began with a T. A day or two
after, while still labouring under the dread of an

33

action for libel, a second self-dubbed hero of my
tale favoured me with a call.

" I am come, Sir, to demand an explanation."

" Explanation, Sir ! what in the name of wonder
do you mean ? who are you?"

" My name. Sir, is Jenkins. You know it well
enough. (I had never heard of the fellow before.)
You must publish an apology in the papers, or I'll
work it out of you."

I immediately saw there was some mistake, and
became cool : too cool, for I betrayed an inclina-
tion to laugh.

" You may laugh. Sir, but you shall come down
for it. I never showed you a horse in my life."

*^ Allow me to ask what is the matter?"

" Matter, forsooth ! you know that I was ac-
quitted ?"

" Really I have not the honour of knowing any
thing about you."

"Then who is Mr. H ?"

The man had been tried for horse-chaunting, it
came out, under the name of Hall !

As X Y Z are understood to represent the un-
known quantities in an equation, the substitution
of these convenient initials may save me from
various other vexatious inuendoes.

To proceed with my narrative ; —

D

34 ,

What could I do next ? I employed a man to
buy one on commission : — he bought me three: the
first was broken-winded; the second reared, and
left me comfortably seated on the ground, provi-
dentially falling himself on the other side ; the
other died within a fortnight, of inflammation ; and
at length I began to discover that it was worth
the scoundrel's while to be paid a commission on
the sale of an unsound horse, as well as on the
purchase of a sound one.

I next availed myself of a farrier's kind advice.
But how could he do otherwise than hand over his
incurable patients to my care ? A country farmer
tendered me his services ; he sent me two on trial ;
both kissed the cockney pavement in less than a
week ; and could I do less than make up their
depreciated value ? Two kind friends offered to
oblige me with cattle of their own. Luckily I had
the prudence to decline both offers. The glance of
an eye told me they were lame ; I civilly regretted
that they were not " the sort of horse I wanted;"
and both broke their knees within a month !

And now, gentle reader, for my inferences a la
Martineau. Whenever you see a horse advertised
for sale, avoid him as you would a pestilence. If
he is "a sweet goer," depend upon it you will be
gently dropped into the sweetest kennel in St.

35

Giles's ; if he is " well suited for a charger/* he is
sure to charge a hay-stack and a park of artillery
with equal determination ; if '' he never shies or
stumbles," the chances are three to one that he is
stone blind, or cannot quit a walk; "the best horse
in England" is to a certainty the worst in London ;
when '^parted with for no fault," it means that he
is sold for a hundred ; if " the reason will be satis-
factorily explained," it may be taken for granted
that the master has absconded, either for stealing
him or robbing his creditors ; when '' built like a
castle," he will move like a church-steeple ; if
" equal to fifteen stone up to the fleetest hounds in
England," depend upon it he never saw the tail of
a hound in his life; if he is a '^beautiful stepper,"
you will find that he has the action of a peacock ;
if a "liberal trial is allowed," be most especially
careful: a deposit of half the price, but three times
his value, will assuredly be required as security for
your return ; and finally, whenever you see that
he is the " property of a tradesman who wants to
exchange for a horse of less value for his business,"
of " a gentleman who has given up riding from ill-
health," or because " he is going abroad," of " a
professional man whose avocations call him from
town," of " a person of respectability who can be
referred to," or of " the executors of a gentleman
d2

36

lately deceased," you may safely swear that he
belongs to a systematic chaunter, who will swindle
you both out of horse and money, and involve you
in all the trouble, cost, and vexation of an Old
Bailey prosecution to boot.

I have tried all these fellows : I have ferreted them
out in all their holes and corners; I have run them to
earth scores of times ; I have detected them buying
a blemished or a stolen horse for ten pounds to-day,
and selling it clipped for fifty to-morrow ; starving a
poor famished wTetch without water for a week, that
it might drink itself into a dropsy, so as to " show a
good barrel" at the next sale-day ; or, as you have
already seen, subduing by protracted torment, into
deceitful quiet, a horse so vicious as to endanger
the life of his rider and all around him. Their
minor villanies are so numerous as to make de-
scription of them impossible ; and in these, aided
by their grooms, some self-called " gentlemen" do
not disdain to share. I have known men not
ashamed to boast of their ingenuity in tricks very
nearly allied to swindling — cauterizing the teeth
to conceal age, surfeiting a horse with unwholesome
food, staining a blemished knee, or clipping a horse
just condemned at the college, to prevent recogni-
tion. These and many such rascally devices, I have
heard confessed with vanity by young puppies

37

who deserved to have their gentility unrobed at the
cart's tail ; yet the confession has been received
with envious applause by scamps of the same order,
who wanted the address, but not the will, to show
their knavery to similar advantage.

Horse auctions or commission stables are only
one degree removed. I have been accustomed to
frequent them all, and in all I observe the same
faces, hear the same coarse jokes, and very fre-
quently recognize the same horses brought to sale
half a dozen times in a season. The reason is ob-
vious ; these places form the market of the trade,
and like all other markets, are frequented by the
lowest class both of dealers and customers. The
proprietors cannot help it if they would; but their
interest lies the other way. The commission is the
same on a good or a bad horse ; but as nine out of
ten fall under the latter description, the profit is
essentially derived from their sale. Hackney-coach
owners, jobbers, hucksters, travellers, butchers,
bakers, and all the tradesmen who require light
carts for the conveyance of their goods, frequent
these places; and to meet the demand of such
customers, all the refuse of the field, after the
hunting season is over, and all the disabled cattle
of the summer stages to Brighton, Southampton,
and so forth, when these places are deserted, are

38

here sent to the hammer. Many a horse will do
very well for harness that is unsafe for the saddle ;
and in fact very few, even of the most showy and
'' splendid " horses, are broken into harness, until
they have proved their inability to carry weight.

Two or three friends have entreated me to except
various commission stables from this sweeping cen-
sure. I regret that I cannot oblige them. Yet I
feel bound to say, that although I have never
dealt there, I have frequently been through Mr.
Shackel's stables in Oxford Street, and have noticed
many horses in them of first-rate pretensions ; while
the courtesy and professional intelligence of Mr.
Shackel himself have almost made me regret that
I had no occasion to avail myself of his services.

The Horse and Carriage Registry, mentioned in
the introductory chapter to this edition, undoubt-
edly affords the best means that could be devised
of facilitating the purchase of a horse. The simple
course of describing the animal wanted in terms
well understood by the trade, and sending this
description by a twopenny-post letter to an office
which must necessarily become the great market
for horses, and where every animal registered is
similarly described, according to his character and
qualities, cannot fail in supplying purchasers with
little trouble, little cost, and perhaps as little risk.

39

as it is possible to incur in such transactions.
Where a horse is registered for sale in the same
terms as are used by the purchaser in describing
the horse that he wants, it is very unUkely that
" business should not be done " between them,
provided both descriptions are accurate. It is the
seller's own fault if he loses a fair opportunity of
sale by sending a false or inaccurate description of
his horse ; and on the other hand, it is the pur-
chaser's fault if he cannot describe the animal he
wishes to purchase. A difficulty may, after all,
arise, on his part, to decide whether the horse
answers his description ; but when a skilful farrier
will be sent to any part of the town to examine it
for him, for the trifling fee of half a guinea, he has
only himself to blame, if from misplaced economy
he grudges the fee, and confides in his own judg-
ment.

I strongly recommend every gentleman who is
anxious to be mounted without personal trouble or
serious expence, to make a fair trial of this new
plan ; but if he distrusts its efficacy, I have arrived
at the conclusion that there are but two other
tolerably secure modes of obtaining a good hack
for the saddle.

The first, and by far the best, for a man who
has time and opportunity, is to visit the breeding

40

counties, Norfolk and Lincolnshire especially, and
by introduction to some respectable farmer, to
choose for himself. If he distrusts his own judg-
ment, it is not difficult to obtain the assistance of a
practical man, if he makes it his interest to serve
him ; but as there are few who can afford the time
and trouble which this implies for an object of
comparatively trifling importance, the simpler alter-
native is to trust to the character and judgment of
any of our principal dealers. Their stables are
usually supplied from the country fairs; few of
them buy for themselves; they employ agents
who live by the occupation, and whose interest of
course is to buy judiciously. Such agents are, for
the most part, familiar with the stock of every
extensive breeder, and know well what to reject.

London dealers of this class are respectable
men; they know and avoid the stigma of unfair
play. I have found many of them deceived : I
have tried three horses from one stable in the same
day, and two have fallen with me ; but the dealer
at once discovered the cause to be in the horse ;
and w^as, or appeared, sincerely, to be more an-
noyed at the reproach he felt to be due for mount-
ing me unsafely, than at the injury his property
had sustained.

It is as true in horse-dealing, as in any other

41

trade, that constant and permanent success depends
on character, as well for honesty as for judgment.
A man may sell a bad horse to advantage, but he
knows that, if chargeable with an intention to de-
ceive, he is at once classed with the knaves of his
profession ; and regular customers are driven away
from his stables for ever. Horses are rarely to be
found at these places, cheap, nor is it reasonable
to expect it; for all perishable commodities, and
few deserve the epithet more than cattle, are in-
evitably high-priced. It is better, however, to
give sixty or seventy guineas in the first instance,
for a good and tried horse, than to buy half a
dozen at an average of half the money, with the
certainty of losing at least forty per cent, on the
sale, exchange, or return of five of them.

I feel no impropriety in mentioning the names
of some of those dealers whom I have personally
found to be safe men; especially as my work is
published anonymously. In the city, I should re-
commend Dye, of White Lion Street, Spitalfields.
I must acknowledge that I have not been fortunate
in my purchases from him, but I have always met
with very fair dealing at his stables. At the WQSt
end of the town, I think that Elmore, Wimbush,
Anderson, Kenrick, and one or two others, whose
names I do not at the moment recollect, are all to

42

be trusted. From Kenrick, especially, I have met
with very liberal treatment ; and I have bought
two excellent horses out of his stables. I doubt
if he really knew their character when he sold
them, though he undoubtedly fully appreciated
their value ! I have since re-sold them both, after
more than a year's use of them. One became
lame, and I was obliged to sell him at a considera-
ble loss without a warranty. The other was sold
to advantage.

Some persons in the trade have found great
fault with me for thus specifying individuals ; and
with natural jealousy have founded upon it an
opinion, that I know nothing on the subject.
To this I reply, that I like to speak of people
as I find them, I have either personally, or
through my friends, found all these men treat a
customer with fairness and honesty ; I am there-
fore entitled to presume that such is their general
system — for so entirely am I a stranger to them,
that though I believe they all know me very well
by name, I have not received even the simple
acknowledgment of thanks from more than one of
them, for the recommendation that I have here
given of their stables. I do not, however, blame
them for the omission, though it seems a little un-
grateful. My real object, and of that they are

43

probably sensible, is to benefit my readers rather
than the trade. I can truly say with respect to
Kenrick, whose horses I have tried most frequently,
that while I consider them very high-priced, I
think him a fair trader, and an excellent prac-
tical judge of horse-flesh. Till I find that he
treats me ill, I shall continue to express the same
opinion.

I The horses of such dealers are generally high-
priced, and I have seen many among them which
I would not buy at any price ; but still I should
go with confidence to their stables. I have little
doubt that respectable dealers will themselves find
it well worth their while to enter their studs at the
Horse and Carriage Registry. The certainty of
finding a customer there for every horse that is
faithfully described (for whatever may be its
description, it must suit the wants or taste of
somebody), will be an advantage well purchased
by a moderate fee, or annual subscription, and no
dealer's private connexion, however large or re-
spectable, can be expected to compete with the
books of such an office. It will be the cheapest
method of advertising their stock ; and, in fact, if
their descriptions are only faithful, the Registry
will render every dealer independent of connexion !
A total stranger to town might thus establish and

44

carry on a large and prosperous trade in four-and
twenty hours.

My reader must here forgive me for anothe
suggestion of a personal nature. To betray dis
trust, is the sure way to be deceived : if you wall
into a stable with an air of gratifying curiosity
criticise horses merely to affect a knowledge, an«
ask for prices as if to contrast them with price
elsewhere, and to feel the market rather than " d
business," it cannot be expected that you will mee
with courtesy or attention ; much less that you wi]
be regarded with honest interest as a customer.

Your true-bred citizen, and almost as often, you
exquisite of the park, cannot tell a horse from
cow, unless he sees him in a hackney coach
Yet even where my previous advice is strictl
followed, some little skill in horse-flesh is by n
means superfluous. Few of the horse-dealers
even of the most eminent, are scientific men ; the;
know the merits of their studs by practical ex
perience, but they rarely possess better informa
tion. The ignorance of many of them is so great
that I believe they often obtain the credit of lyin^
when they do not deserve it. Splents, thrushes
windgalls, incipient spavins, and many other mino
diseases, are always declared to be " of no conse
quence whatever;" coughs in particular are to b

45

found " in every stable in London at this season
)f the year ;" and any attempt to deny these broad
Positions, or to enHghten the ignorance from which
:hey proceed, is resented as an insulting suspicion,
)r ridiculed as absurd ! I have really been asto-
lished to find how generally uninformed the dealers
ire in the very elements of veterinary science, and
'how unw illing they are to receive correction ; though
his, it must be acknowledged, is the usual charac-
teristic of illiterate men. In fact most of them are
better judges of their customers, than they are of
their cattle. Such a colloquy as follows, usually
begins the negociation.

'^ I want a horse, Mr. Smith."

*^ I shall be happy to serve you. Sir : will you
Walk round my yard ?"

" I don't wish to give a high price, Mr. Smith."

" I have horses of all prices. Sir : is it for the
saddle or harness?"

'' I shall use him perhaps for both purposes."
I This unlucky answer at once stamps the cus-
tomer ; an inferior animal is the first to which his
attention is directed — an instant suffices to show
pis pretensions to practical knowledge. The cus-
tomer, if veri/ green, at once walks up to the
shoulder to scan his height ; the horse starts at the
rude approach of a stranger, and the question is

46

promptly asked, "Is he quiet?" On receiving
a favourable answer, which it would have beer
wiser, and not quite so green, to have obtained
before entering the stall, the customer cocks his
chin upon the shoulder, and estimates the heighl
within six or seven inches.

" About sixteen hands, Mr. Smith ?"

" No, Sir ; not more than fourteen two. Wil'
you see him out ?"

Abashed at his mistake, the buyer nods assent
and when the animal is walked out, stares at hin
as if he were a rhinoceros, looking askance first a
one leg, and then at the other.

" I'll warrant him sound. Sir/*

" Are his legs quite right?"

" No better in England, Sir."

" He seems to me to stand rather awkwardly;'
and then first comes out the reluctant admission—

*' But I am no judge of ahorse."

Had the same declaration been made frankly a1
first, no harm would have been done : the dealei
would have anticipated a review by the farrier, or.
if honest, would spontaneously have suggested a
trial ; but now you are at his mercy. I

" Run him down the ride, Tom."

After gazing at him in silence, as if he had
never seen a horse move before, the cockney, for
very shame, makes some unmeaning remark.

47

"I think he goes very odd behind, Mr. Smith."
" 'Tis only his way of going, Sir ; all young
horses are raw in their action."

"Are they? What may be his age?" and
off my gentleman starts with a knowing look to
examine the mouth, pulling the bridle, and twist-
ing the j aw as if he would break it, to get a peep
inside. The poor animal shrinks from such painful
I and unwonted scrutiny, and back starts the cockney
in dismay.

** Does he bite, Mr. Smith, eh V

" No more than you would. Sir."

" I am afraid he won't suit me ; have you any
other to show me ? I want a quiet animal, for I
am not much used to riding."
ij ''I shall have a lot in next week, Sir j and," (in

48

a half whisper) " a full-grown jackass among
them." There ends the matter — Mr. Dimity
walks off in a dudgeon, and indemnifies himself by
boasting of his sagacity in escaping from 'Uhe
fangs of that rascally horse-dealer, Smith, who
wanted to palm off a vicious horse upon him, but
he was too knowing ;" while Mr. Smith, on the
other hand, piously resolves to " take in the next
greenhorn of a man-milliner," out of revenge for
the trouble of uselessly showing his stud.

Sometimes the affair goes a step further.

^' I want a horse, Mr. Smith, but I won't go
beyond thirty pounds."

"I have one about that figure. Sir."

" Figure ! is he well made ?"

He is trotted out, admired, and purchased :
four-and-twenty hours felapse, and back come the
horse and his rider ; the one in a towering passion,
the other in a foam.

" You have treated me in a pretty way, Mr.
Smith, but I'll take the law of you, hang me if I
don't."

" What's the matter now ?"

" Didn't you sell me this horse as sound, and
make me pay thirty guineas for him ?"

"Well, Sir, what then?"

" What then. Sir ! what then ! why look here,
look at his knee ! see how he has cut himself !"

49

" I see nothing ; has he been down ?"

" Down, indeed ! no, I think I can ride better
than that; but he has a scar as long as my arm."

" Then you need not have been so long in find-
ing it out. Did you expect for thirty guineas to
buy such a horse as that without a blemish ?"

" Blemish ! but Til take the law of you, you
rascal, you may depend upon it. My first cousin
is an attorney, and he will bring the action for
love, ril make you smart for it yet."

My first cousin, the attorney, if an honest man,
tells him that he is a fool for his pains ; and if a
rogue, makes him pay a hundred pounds to learn
that a blemish is no unsoundness !

I have known a yet more unlucky fate ; or at
least more mortifying. A friend of mine called on
me one day in a very sulky mood ; he had " been
nicely tricked ; choused out of fifty pounds by a
swindling knave, and got nothing but a lame
jhorse for his money."

"Then why not return him?"

" Oh ! the dealer swears he was sound when I
itook him away yesterday, and what's the use of
going to law with those fellows ? they will swear
black's white."

" Very true ; but let me have a look at him :
where does he stand ?"

£

50

" Close by ; but I hope Fve got rid of him by
this time ; I told the ostler to sell him for what
he would fetch."

" Never mind ; I'll take my chance of finding
him."

And away we went. On reaching the stables,
we found the horse was sold and paid for ; he had
fetched five-and-twenty pounds, and was to be
taken away the next morning. For curiosity's
sake I begged to see him, and he was led out as
lame as a duck.

^* Why, Tom," I exclaimed, "have you had him
new shod since yesterday ?"

" Yes, to be sure ; he had scarcely a shoe to his
feet."

I sent for the farrier, and with permission, had
the shoe removed from^ the near fore foot, and
then replaced.

" Now try him on the stones."

He went as soundly as the day he was foaled..
One of the nails had been driven a trifle too far,
and had touched the quick. I dare say that for
some days the foot remained tender, but my friend
Tom bought a little experience, though somewhat
dearly, for five-and-twenty pounds.

I have observed that dealers themselves are not
alwavs familiar with their horses' defects. I onces

51

bought one in the country ; I rode him to town —
only a few miles, and he fell ; he was not blemished,
and I returned him. The man would not believe
my story ; he fancied, as they often pretend, that
I returned him from caprice, and was dissatisfied.
I offered to keep the horse on one condition — that
he should ride with me a mile over the stones at
my pace : if he did not stumble, I would have him.
He readily assented ; w^e mounted, and set off at
a moderate trot.

^^ There never was a surer-footed horse in
Eno'land — stones or sward."

But scarcely were the words out of his mouth,
before the animal gave him the lie direct, blemished
his own knees irretrievably, and, as if by way of
appropriate rebuke, caused his rider almost to bite
his tono'ue off in the fall ! The horse had a
running thrush.

E 2

'^.^^^^^^^toJ

The few instances which I have given, will
suffice to show the value of a little practical know-
ledge in examining a horse, however respectable
the seller may be.

I do not pretend to be myself very scientific in
the matter ; and if I were, it would not be easy to
convey such knowledge on paper. What they
call in the anatomical schools " demonstration,"
is indispensable to scientific knowledge. There
are however some criteria so obvious, and so
simple, that any sensible man with a correct eye
and a discriminating touch, may apply them.
Horse-dealing is perhaps the only subject that
contradicts Pope's maxim, " A little knowledge is
a dangerous thing.''

The first point to which I should direct a
purchaser's attention, is the size and apparent

53

strength of the horse. This is a matter on which
every man who follows my former advice, to
consider well what kind of a horse he wants, is
more or less competent to judge.

I will offer a remark which to me is new. A
well-bred horse is rarely able to carry much weight
if he stands less than fifteen hands and an inch ;
a half-bred horse will often cany great weight
though he does not exceed fourteen. It is difficult
to define exactly the difference in appearance be-
tween well-bred and half-bred horses. To the eye
it is inteUigible at a glance, but it may guide the
observation in some measure to notice that there is
a general lightness and promise of elasticity about
the former, which the latter usually want ; the
head is smaller, the crest higher, the mane and
tail more silky in their form, the hocks and legs
are flatter, or have that character which the jockies
describe as " clean :" the root of the tail is better
defined, the outline of the hind legs from the hock
to the fetlock is perpendicular ; the tendons of the
muscles in the leg are usually more distinctly de-
veloped, and are more tense to the touch : the feet
are smaller, and their pastern joints are commonly
longer. Their action is yet more distinct ; the high-
bred horse does not usually possess high action,
and his walk and trot are slower in speed and less

54

brisk in appearance. On the other hand, his canter
or gallop is more graceful, more easy, and of course
more rapid. His mouth feels more lively or "lighter,"
as it is termed, to the bridle-hand, and there is
altogether a vivacity both in appearance and in
movement which is seldom found in a half-bred
horse ; wholly different however from that bustling
kind of activity which may be noticed in a butcher's
trotter. If my reader will bear these general re-
marks in mind when he has an opportunity of
comparing different breeds with the eye, I think,
that after a few trials, he will be at no loss to form
an accurate opinion, even where the difference of
breed is not considerable. I have heard people
exclaim, " What breed !" when they see a slovenly-
made weedy thing, witH long spider-like spindle-
shanks, and as lean as a lath. Though a certain
degree of slimness of make is commonly observed
in thorough-bred horses, especially when young,
there is no greater mistake than to suppose that
this is the invariable concomitant of pure descent.
Smolensko was remarkable for the size and power
of his limbs : I once measured his leg below the
knee with my hands, and it required the span of
one hand, aided by a finger of the other, to en-
circle it. I believe that Terrare was yet larger in
the bone.

55

When the term thorough-bred is used in its strict
acceptation, in reference to the pedigree of a horse,
it means, that for five generations back, its purity
of blood can be deduced without uncertainty : and
by purity of blood is meant a lineal descent from
the Barb, Turk, or Arabian. The pedigree of our
celebrated race-horses being matter of record in the
stud-book, it is always sufficient to trace any
horse to an ancestor of acknowledged breed, such
as Echpse, Childers, &c., and if this can be done,
. on the side both of the sire and the dam, no further
pedigree is necessary. This brief explanation of the
term " thorouoh-bred" is offered to those who are
in the habit of breeding stock ; but T must repeat
that my book is not designed for the edification of
practical and experienced men.

If the object is to get an animal of considerable
power and fair speed, and the price must be re-
stricted to forty or fifty guineas, I should recom-
mend one of the cob make, between fourteen and
fifteen hands. If activity and wind are more
coveted than strength, a horse about three-parts
bred, and not under fifteen hands, is more likely to
answer the purpose ; but if he is good for any
thing, the figure will be at least ten guineas
higher. Should an occasional day's sport be com-

56

bined with other views, both height and strength
are indispensable, and seventy guineas will be the
minimum price. But it is very rare indeed to find
one of your " occasional hunters" fit for the field :
he may carry well enough over the first two or
three fences, or perhaps through a quiet day ; but
the chances are ten to one that on a second trial
he swerves from his leaps, or bolts, or breaks
down. Hunters are not sold as hacks till they
have proved treacherous : and of all the nuisances
on earth, an unsafe horse after the hounds is the
greatest. I once fell in with the hounds pretty
well mounted, but on one of these occasional
hunters. It was not in human nature to turn
away, even if I had known my horse. He bolted,
and dashed through a bridle gate at speed ; the
post fairly cut off the side of my boot — another
half-inch, and I should have struck it flush upon
my knee-pan, and of course have been disabled
for life ! There is neither heroism nor pleasure in
such fool-hardy adventures.

But to return to my subject. If in general ap-
pearance the horse promises to suit, it is prudent
to see him through his paces before you inspect
him closely; the opposite course is commonly
followed, but I think erroneously. The action of

57

a horse, when closely observed, guides to his de-
fective points, and tells us where the scrutiny-
should be severe.

It is very difficult, however, to judge of a horse's
action. I once took a valuable mare to the college
for examination : I knew she was lame, but where,
I was utterly unable to discover ; and my per-
plexity was by no means singular. Not only was
I unable to penetrate the cause, but I could not
even guess which leg was in fault. Mr. Sewell
himself was obliged to examine her closely.
About ten or twelve of his pupils were present,
and several of them were asked their opinions :
each had his own, but none were exactly right,
though there were but four legs between which to
decide. The fact was that she was lame on every
leg, and in consequence her action was pretty
uniform.

To a certain extent, this is not uncommon.
Where both the fore feet are equally tender, the
action is destroyed, but it is not uneven, and the
limp is consequently not perceptible.

In some horses, defective action is of course far
more difficult to discover than the limp occasioned
by disease; but still there are general rules by
which the judgment may be guided. I have
already noticed the usual difference in high-bred

58

and other horses. It follows that, in criticising
action, attention must be paid to the breeding of the
horse; but in both classes it may be safely laid down
as a maxim, that a bold and decided motion from
the shoulder is good, especially if the head is well
and evenly carried ; the knee should be fairly bent,
the foot placed firmly and fearlessly on the ground,
and the toes in a direct line with the body, neither
inclining to the one side nor the other. The hind
legs should be well "gathered" under the body,
with the toes fairly raised from the ground, and the
hind feet spread pretty accurately in the impress of
the fore feet. If they pass beyond, the agreeable
accompaniment, vulgarly termed " hammer and
click," is very likely to be heard ; not when the
horse is show^n, for there are easy means of pre-
venting its being audible, as allowing the toe of
the hind foot to extend a little over the shoe.
This noise is made by the hind shoe striking
against the interior rim of the fore shoe, so that if
the horn of the hind foot covers the iron, the col-
lision with the fore shoe remains, but is inaudible :
when the horse has been ridden for a week or two,
the hind toe becomes worn away, and then the
iron strikes audibly as usual.

If the toes of the hind feet " drag the ground,"
it is a defect indicative of disease in the hocks ; a

59

dropping or irregular carriage of the head is a
sure sign of lameness. Very high action is bad —
it is often unpleasant to the rider ; it wears and
bruises the feet on hard roads, and it is not un-
frequently the cause of the speedy cut ; the foot
striking against the inside of the opposite knee ;
this is particularly the case in horses with broad
feet and soft heels. Very low action is unsafe,
for obvious reasons ; the toe has a tendency to
strike any accidental elevation of the ground, such
as a large stone or frozen rut, and becomes worn
almost to the quick ; thus the foot is inj ured, even
if the horse is not brought down. Some horses
are very apt to turn their feet very much outwards
or inwards in their trot ; either defect is very un-
pleasant to the eye, and the latter often unsafe :
the former is usually found in slow horses, the
other in fast trotters. To judge if such a fault
exists, it is prudent to change your position to the
end of the ride, and watch the horse's approach,
as well as his passing action.

A wide, straddling action of the hind legs, or
the opposite fault, of having the hocks too close,
so as to turn the hind feet outwards on the trot,
is very ungraceful, and usually implies an uneasy
seat. The latter fault is generally described as
cow-hocked, because it makes the action resemble

60

that of a cow. It is not uncommon in fast horses,
but I am not aware that it indicates unsoundness,
though it is commonly said to render a horse more
liable to spavin and thorough-pin.

The ostler and the dealer together, almost
always contrive to put the horse to his full trot,
when shown. The object of this is to conceal
lameness. To examine a horse's action fairly, he
should be allowed to walk and trot down the ride
quite at his own pace, and with the head unre-
strained : the pace should not exceed five or six
miles an hour: and if you can prevail on the
dealer to lay aside the whip (a very difficult
matter), it will greatly facilitate your observation.
I need scarcely add that the trial should be re-
peated on the stones or hard road ; for a horse
must be tender-footed indeed, to show lame when
running down the straw.

There is a peculiar appearance about the legs
in some instances ; it is called by the dealers
" grogginess.'' Where the fore leg inclines a
little forward at the knee, or is readily bent at the
least touch behind the knee, it is termed " knuck-
ling." I have seen very young horses show this
deformity before they have been backed ; but if,
in addition to this, there is a tremulous, tottering
motion of the limb, it is a decided proof that the

61

lorse has " done his work," whatever may be his
ige ; he is decidedly " groggy," and should be re-
ected. It proceeds from relaxation of the sinews,
md in young horses may be relieved and perhaps
^ured, by rest and blistering ; but still the animal
mil never be fit for much exertion.

There are other points in the action to which a
good judge will direct his eye ; such as the
3aiTiage of the head and tail, steadiness and
uniformity of the trot, and the promptitude with
which the check is obeyed ; if he is ver^ particu-
lar, he will even see him in the lunge. I am not
writing, however, for the professed jockey, but
(if there is such an oddity to be found) for the
acknowledged ignoramus. When he finds him-
self qualified to judge of the soundness of action,
he will not be long before he learns for himself, in
what its elegance consists.

With one further hint to him, in reference to
lameness, I shall quit the subject. Be careful to
observe if a horse, apparently even free and bold in
.action, does not occasionally drop ; if a casual halt
!or a sort of misgiving on any leg is perceived, re-
ject the animal at once ; he will fall almost to a
certainty, when put to his work. It is difficult to
penetrate the cause of this defect — in some cases it
arises from splents, in others from sprains, in many

II

62

from the remaining debility of a sinew that has
formerly been strained, and in most, perhaps, froic
thrush, corns, tender heels, and other affections ol,
the feet. If it is exhibited on the ride, the lega
may reasonably be suspected ; if on the stones
the feet are probably bad : but wherever the faull(
exists, it is a decided fault, and the horse is am
unsafe purchase.

While I am adverting generally to the selectiorj
of a horse, I may allude to one or two other pointsi
deserving consideration. In j udging of his heightl
be careful to have him placed on level groundi
In the usual way in which horses are shown i
purchasers may be deceived to the extent o J
an inch, or perhaps two; and that differencr
is important, not only in reference to his strength
but because it may materially affect his re-sale
Few horses under fifteen hands and a half art >
eligible for posting, stages, or similar purposes v^
and though a gentleman buys a horse to keep him.
he should never forget the probability of his being
speedily obliged to part with him, if a month's trial
proves that he does not answer his purpose.

A due elevation of the shoulder, is also con-
sidered a desirable point in a saddle-horse. I
cannot say that I have ever regarded it as of great
importance, but it has undoubtedly a tendency to

63

prevent the saddle working too far forward, and
,so far it deserves attention. I have heard good
'practical judges attach great value to a rise in the
shoulder-blade, as respects the safety of the horse's
action. My own experience, however, does not
enable me to confirm the truth of the remark,
though I have certainly noticed that horses with
free action have generally a well-raised shoulder.

A man who is not a very timid rider, will act
wisely in choosing a high-couraged horse ; not one
of capricious or irritable temper — that is a very
idifferent thing, — but, to use a common phrase, a
horse of " good pluck," one that is ready " to go,"
without asking too many inconvenient questions of
why and where. I firmly believe that in many
instances, animals of this description, even when
unsound, are practically safer than the soundest
slugs. Their " courage keeps them up," is quite
i proverbial expression among grooms and post-
boys, and there is more truth in it than is usually
supposed. A high-couraged horse is less sensible
of fatigue than those of a tame and quiet temper-
iment. We may judge in some measure by what
ive daily observe in human nature : a man of
Banguine disposition w^ill often endure a degree of
oodily fatigue from which men of less mental

64

energy will shrink, though possessed of greater
physical strength.

I will conclude this chapter with observing that
horses having long pasterns, have usually a
lumbering, lolloping action, neither fast nor plea-
sant ; on the other hand, those which have pasterns
unusually upright, are stiff and jolting in their
motion. Both extremes should be avoided ; the
former defect is more common in high-bred horses,
and the latter is frequently indicative of a disease
called the ring-bone, especially if accompanied by
high and perpendicular heels. Of the two faults,
it is considered the most objectionable.

After all that has been said in my former
chapter, it can scarcely be necessary to caution
the reader, that if he is treating with men of whose
respectability he is not well assured by previous
information, or general repute, he must attentively
listen to every syllable that is said by dealer,
gentleman, or groom, and believe nothing.

I was one day examining a horse that pleased
me much ; but T perceived a blemish over the
eye : the hair was slightly turned, and on raising
it with my finger I found a scar.

'^ It is of no consequence, Sir ; a rascal that I
discharged last week, struck him over the head
with a fork."

" It happened last week, Mr. Brown?"

^^ Yesterday was a week. Sir."

" What provoked the man ?"

F

66

" He was taking the horse to be shod, Sir, and
I suppose he would not stand quiet in shoeing."

Now there were two httle circumstances that
made me suspicious of this explanation, inde-
pendently of the scar not appearing to he quite so
recent in date. "Yesterday week" chanced to be
on a Sunday ; so that there was little probability
of the horse having been at the blacksmith's to be
shod, at the time alleged ; and, about five minutes
previously, I had inquired of the ostler how long
the horse in the adjoining stall had been in the
stables. " He came from the country, from
Reading fair, along with the two next him, in the
middle of last week."

I had no object in irritating my friend, the
dealer, by telling him he lied : he knew that well
enough, but it would have "hurt his conscience
to be found out." I was put on my guard, and
had the horse led out a second time for examina-
tion, when I discovered a blemish on each knee j
so slight that it had escaped my eye on my first
inspection, but still so unequivocal, that even the
dealer's impudence could not deny it.

" That rascal of yours, Mr. Brown, must have
been a desperate fellow to maul the poor creature
over the knees as well as the head !"

" Wei! ; I believe there was a little mishap

67

coming from Reading, but the horse is none the
worse for it, I am sm'e."

The man lied still ; the accident was at least
three or four months old ; and he had doubtless
bought the horse as a blemished horse, to sell him
at an unblemished price ; but the further investi-
gation would have profited little, either to me or
him, so I left him to himself, to chew the cud on
his loss of a customer. I was so well satisfied
with the horse in other respects, that had he
frankly told me the truth, and asked a price in
proportion to the defect, I should have bought him.

In many similar instances, I have been told,
with unblushing effrontery, that "he blemished
himself in leaping a gate;" "he got loose last
night in the stable, and rubbed the hair off :"
" he ran in the dark against a barrow that an old
fish-woman had left in the gateway;" to which
my reply has uniformly been a philippic against
drunken ostlers and careless fish-fags, with regret
that such a valuable horse should be spoilt for sale.
I recommend equal prudence to my reader; it will
save him from buying a bad horse, and not less
from a nuisance only second in degree, a personal
squabble with a detected horse-dealer !

It is obviously impossible to explain, to an inex-
perienced man, all the symptoms of unsoundness.
f2

o6

I do not pretend to understand them myself,
though I have had some practice, and am not
altogether destitute of anatomical knowledge ; but
to make them inteUigible by description only,
would be hopeless to the most skilful veterinary
surgeon. There are however, some indications of
latent disease, so well marked, that any man who
has once heard them mentioned, will detect them ;
and as my object is not to write a scientific
treatise, for which I am not qualified, but to offer
a few such practical suggestions as a man who
has bought a score or two of horses is well able to
give, I will state, in popular language, what these
indications are.

The foot of a horse is the first part to be ex-
amined. A well-made foot should, in its external
shape, be almost semi-circular, and inclining to
the conical form of a beer-tunnel. I must assume
that my reader is conversant with the names of
the different parts of the horse's foot ; if not, let
him turn into the next farrier's shop that he passes,
and five minutes will be advantageously spent in
acquiring them.

To enable him to receive his lesson with more
advantage, I will briefly mention the principal
parts of this important organ.

The foot is enclosed in a horny case called the

i

69

hoof. This homy case is termed the C7mst or wall.
It is about half an inch in thickness in the fore
part of the foot, and becomes thinner as it recedes.
I have ah'eady observed that the hoof inclines
upwards in the form of a beer tunnel ; it would be
more scientific to say that the inclination is, or
ought to be, at an angle of 45 degrees with the
plane of the shoe. If this angle is materially less,
ithe sole is flat, or perhaps convex; if the angle
■exceeds 45 degrees, the foot is contracted. Any
man may easily accustom his eye to an accurate
jmeasurement of the angle, by attentively noticing
lit in the extension of a pair of compasses. It
would be rather green, however, to produce them
at Tattersall's or the Bazaar.

I Where the hoof appears to unite wdth the skin
at the top, or more properly speaking, at the root
of it, it is called the coronet. The crust here be-
comes very thin, and at the thinnest part, it is
called the coronary ring. There is a thick fold of
skin just above this, which is called the coronary
ligament; not that it is a ligament in the true
anatomical sense of the term ; such however, is
its name.

! The crust of the hoof extends itself towards the
heel, and then abruptly curves inwards, in the
form delineated in the next page.

vy

70

The ends thus inclining inwards,
are called the bars ; they are not
usually seen except in faint traces,
in London horses, for, from a
very mistaken and mischievous
policy of the farrier, whose ambition is to give
the foot an open appearance at the expense of
safety and soundness, they are cut away in paring
the foot for the shoe ; and this is what they call
" putting the foot in order !" I have scarcely ever
seen a horse in a dealer's stables that retained the
bars perfect.

The frog is an elastic horny substance between
the bars, occupying about a fourth part of the
foot, and in the shape of the letter Y inverted.
It will be more clearly under-
stood from a figure. It is also
the fashion to reduce and pare
away the frog as well as the
bars. To do this so far as not
to expo<^( it to the first contact with the ground,
when the foot descends, is perhaps judicious ; but
nothing is more obvious than that nature intended
this elastic and hard substance to break the jar
of the descending foot, and therefore it ought still,
notwithstanding the artificial protection given by
the shoe, to meet the ground. It should be re-

71

collected that the shoe is only an aid to the firm-
ness and durability of the crust, and instead of
contributing to the elasticity of the tread, has a
tendency directly the reverse, and so far, injurious.

Instead, therefore, of removing any of those
parts which are intended by nature to soften and
diminish the jar of violent action, it should be our
study to preserve them, as far as is consistent with
the necessary defence of the crust. It follows,
that the frog ought to be allowed to project so far
as to meet the ground, though not so low as to be
the first part to come in contact with it.

That part of the external foot which has a plane
surface, and extends from the frog to the crust, is
called the sole. This, too, is horny and elastic.
In a healthy foot it ought to be somewhat con-
cave: and this form should be maintained as
much as possible, in preparing the foot for the
shoe.

The heels constitute the posterior part of the foot,
in which the two branches of the frog terminate,
and are also of a very horny consistency.

The purchaser will, by aid of this little pre-
liminary explanation, be very well able to under-
stand the practical demonstration which I have
advised him to seek from the farrier ; and here I
shall drop the description. As he may often hear

72

of the coffin, pastern, and navicular bones, it is ex-
pedient to add that the first is a triangular-shaped
bone that occupies the interior of the foot, in a
position corresponding with the inclination of the
hoof ; the smaller pastern is a bone directly above
it, and articulating into its upper surface ; and the
navicular bone is a small bone which lies behind
the articulation of the coffin and smaller pastern,
and assists in forming what is called the coffin-
joint. Their relative position in the foot may be
collected from this figure, but it is hopeless to

convey a correct idea of them without the aid of
a preparation ; and almost every veterinary surgeon
will give a more accurate knowledge of them in
five minutes, by the assistance of his specimens,
than the most elaborate written explanation can
effect.

To complete this general description of the foot,

73

it only remains to notice that, between the surface
of the coffin bone and the interior surface of the
, crust, there are an immense number of horny
laminae, of a cartilaginous nature, radiating from
the base of the hoof towards the coronet, the object
of which is to contribute to the elasticity of th-
tread ; so anxiously has nature provided in every
jpart of this useful animal, to adjust his physical
' structure to that severe and peculiar exertion which
i is required by the labour to which he is subjected.
I The remark which I have already made on this
i point cannot be too strongly impressed on the
mind ; that this excess of precaution in the natural
arrangement of the foot, to guard it against the
jar of violent concussion, should guide the farrier
to observe it as a principle in shoeing, that its
elasticity is to be preserved to the utmost extent
possible, consistently with the protection which
the iron is intended to give to the crust.

An easy mode of preserving the elasticity, is

by allowing a small space to remain between the

shoe and the quarters, or that part of the hoof

where the bars begin ; the separation between the

. iron and the hoof at this point, should not be less

I than the eighth of an inch. When the horse is

I shod in this manner, it is easy to observe the

elastic character of the foot. When the foot is

on the ground, no space will be perceptible ; the
expansion of the foot will be such that the iron
will appear in close contact with the hoof : when,
however, the foot is raised, the space will become
visible ; and it will be found that this cannot
proceed from the shoe lodging itself in the hoof
by the pressure ; for if this were the reason, the
iron would become bent, and remain lodged after
the foot left the ground. It is not that the iron
plate is pressed into the foot, but the elasticity of
the foot makes it descend to the iron. A skilful
smith will always fasten on the shoes upon this
principle. Practically, many of them understand
it, for you frequently hear them explain accidental
lameness by saying that the shoe has been put
on " too tight:" the operation, however, of this
" tight " shoeing, in impeding the elasticity of
the tread, and thereby occasioning inflammatory
action, and consequent tenderness and contraction,
is understood by very few smiths, and too little
regarded by many veterinary surgeons. I believe
that Mr. Woodin, to whom I have occasion to
refer elsewhere as a veterinarian of great skill, was
the first to suggest this method of shoeing, and
the illustration it affords of the elasticity of the
foot. I received it from Professor Coleman ; but
I have since understood that the credit is due to

75

Woodin, and I gladly take this opportunity of
acknowledging many useful hints with which he
has favoured me.

I will now proceed to those marked and visible
defects of which any man of common understand-
ing may easily make himself a competent judge ;
at least to such an extent as may guard him from
gross imposition.

If it appears that towards the heels, the semi-
circular line becomes suddenly straight, and the
sides of the foot abruptly approach each other,
it may be inferred that the heels are contracted.
In these cases the natural position of the foot is
partially changed ; the hoof becomes more upright,
the sole of the foot descends, and the horse is
commonly called " foundered." This is a very
common, and yet a serious defect ; it usually arises
from bad shoeing and severe work ; but I profess
not to explain the disease, or the extent to which it
admits either of cure or relief. Those who are in-
terested or curious in such pathology, must refer to
Professors Coleman or Sewell. I may add, how-
ever, that although a contracted foot is indicative
of past disease, it by no means follows that it is
unsoundness, or incapacitates a horse from work.
It is most common in high-bred horses, perhaps
because in proportion to the general lightness and

76

activity of the horse, the elasticity of the foot is
more perfect, and therefore more easily deranged
by careless shoeing, and neglect of the principles
that I have just noticed.

The best way of judging whether there is any
malformation of the feet, either natural, or in
consequence of disease, is to front the horse, and
compare the two feet together. Any difference
of size or shape is thus easily detected ; and if that
difference is so great as to be readily apparent to
the eye, there is little doubt that disease exists
or has existed. Where the eye cannot at once
detect it, it is best to take up a straw, and ascer-
tain by actual measurement across the heels,
whether the feet correspond.

The fore feet are rather larger in a well-formed
horse than the hind feet. If a purchaser is very
particular, this circumstance may assist his obser-
vation; should he find a material difference in
size, the hind feet being the largest, he may safely
infer that the animal is unsound, or likely to become
so, from malformation.

The purchaser should carefully notice any crack
in the hoof; a fissure descending from the coronet
towards the toes, is always a serious defect, and
generally produces lameness. Any cracks imply
a brittle and dry hoof, and, of course, a tendency

77

to lameness. It is not very easy without minute
scrutiny, to discover a sand-crack, where an attempt
is made to conceal it : a month's run in marshy
grounds will often make it close up, till the
horse is again brought to his work on the hard
road : and it is not difficult to cover the interstice
superficially with tar and tallow, so as to hide it
from a common observer. Any shining, oily ap-
pearance about the hoofs should immediately
awaken a suspicion of the existence of cracks.

A prominent ring round the hoof, has been
frequently mentioned to me as a symptom of
recent inflammation ; but I believe it to be a falla-
cious one ; for I have often noticed such marks in
my own horses^ when I have had them long enough
for the entire hoof to have become renewed from
the coronet, and yet they have never been in the
least degree lame. Where, however, the outward
line of the hoof marking its inclination to the plane
of the shoe is irregular, instead of being perfectly
straight, as I have attempted to describe it in
this profile, it marks what is called a
"shelly" foot, from its resemblance /C/^~^

to the uneven character of an oyster ^Z^—^
shell, and this is decidedly bad.

The sole of the foot should be subjected to still
closer examination. In its healthy and natural

78

state it is inclined to be concave ; whenever it is
found to be flat, and still more if any convexity is
apparent, the purchaser may safely conclude that
the horse is either lame or will soon become so :
I should consider a fault of this kind quite con-
clusive. A want of substance in the heel is a usual
accompaniment of a convex foot.

The frog of the foot should be firmly pressed
between the finger and thumb : if any white matter
flows from it, there is a thrush ; and this denotes
a tenderness of the foot. It often exists without
visible lameness ; but a sharp stone will bring the
horse down. It is the more important to be par-
ticular in observing the existence of a thrush, be-
cause I know that a difference of opinion prevails
among farriers whether it amounts to unsoundness :
of course it would be hazardous in such a case
to rely upon a warranty. The flow of matter is
easily checked by the application of a little sul-
phuric acid ; and then the existence of the disease,
if such it be considered, is not discovered by the
eye ; but if the foot has a fetid smell, it is pro-
bable that the frog is rotten, and by this means the
purchaser may still be put upon his guard. It is
comparatively of little consequence when a thrush
is found only in the hind feet.

A corn is another disease not to be detected by

79

a superficial observer, unless it happens that the
part affected has been recently cut away to relieve
the pain. This part is usually at the corner of the
heel, on the inside, just at the point where the shoe
terminates. It is, in fact, a bruise of the sole of
the foot, occasioned by undue pressure of the
shoe; and though it admits of partial relief by
cutting away the affected part, that relief is rarely
permanent. If the foot appears to have been cut
unusually deep at the angle, where the shoe meets
the inside heel, or if there is any peculiarity in
the shoeing at that part, the purchaser may infer
that " it is not all right."

These are the ordinary diseases of the foot, per-
ceptible more or less to every eye ; but 1 am far
from supposing that I have described all to which
that important organ is subject. Tenderness, and
even lameness, are constantly to be found where
not one of these diagnostics is perceptible. Some-
times the sole is extremely thin, and the foot is
bruised, where no symptom can be discovered
without gradually paring away the horny sub-
i stance. If, however, none of the indications which
I have here mentioned are visible, nor any marks
of bruise about the coronet, and if the horse's
action is firm and bold, it may be fairly assumed
that the foot is in a sound state.

80

I should have observed before, that a dark hoof
is preferable to a white one; the latter is more
porous in its structure, and more liable to become
dry and brittle. This is easily demonstrated by
soaking two hoofs of opposite colours and equal
weight, in water : the white hoof will become
heavier than the other when saturated with water,
and will become dry again far sooner. It is also
quite notorious among farriers, that when a horse
is lame, having one foot white and the other black,
the disease is generally found in the white foot.
So common is this prepossession against white feet,
that I have known instances of the hoof being
stained by chaunters ; but while I admit that a
preference is due to the dark hoof, I cannot say
that I would reject a horse for the want of it.

Strains of the fetlock joint are almost invaria-
bly productive of such decided lameness, that even
the knavery of a professed horse-chaunter is at fault
to hide it. Sometimes however, partial cures have
been effected, though not to that degree that the
horse becomes safe for the saddle, or qualified for
severe work, even in harness. I believe that the
disease consists in the fracture of a small ligament ;
but neither the cause nor the cure of it is my
present inquiry, but what perceptible traces of it
may be expected. If the horse does not show
lame, I know of no other test by which to try him
than the comparative size of his two legs at this
joint ; and, as it must be a w^ell-practised eye
that can discover a difference, unless too conspi-
cuous to allow the horse to be offered as sound,
there is no other course than measuring the joints
with a straw, as I before recommended, to test the

G

82

equality of the feet. A customer must be prepared
for a little coarse raillery, if he ventures on these
hypercritical precautions : the only way to receive
it is with good humour, and, if genius permits, with
a repartee that may throw back the laugh.

One day my Suspicion was awakened by a cir-
cumstance of this nature. Some other gentlemen
were looking at the stables, and two of them at the
very horse I was minutely measuring. They ap-
peared to be a couple of school-boys j ust escaped

from Eton, or perhaps freshmen who had spent a
term at Cambridge. I have, I trust, long acquired
the lesson of not being quizzed out of my common
The dealer was obviously speculating on a

sense.

purchaser in one of these youths, and seemed

83

nettled at my narrow scrutiny, which threatened
to disappoint his designs,

^^ Tom/' he said to his ostler, " go to the tailor's,
and borrow his measure and shears for the gen-
tleman/'

" And stop at the sadler's on your way, Tom,
and buy a halter for your master !"

The retort told, coarse and trite as it was, and I
was allowed to finish my scrutiny in peace. I
detected no serious enlargement of the joint, but
I found a scar behind the pastern', just under the
fetlock, which implied that the horse had been
"nerved," and the man admitted it; but I must
honestly confess that I had been unable to discover
it by his action; and it was for this reason, perhaps,
that he had counted upon me as a fair subject of
ridicule.

The examination of the leg and back sinews, is
a very important branch of a purchaser's duty,
and generally far less difficult to perform success-
fully, than either that of the foot or the fetlock joint.
Permanent injury to the leg is not easily concealed.
Before I advert to enlargement of the sinews, I
j will allude to a complaint called wind-galls, often
' found just above the fetlock : they rather disfigure
jthan lame a horse, though when they attain a
I large size, they are inj urious ; they are occasioned
g2

by an excessive secretion of the synovial matter
supplied for lubricating the joint. They are pre-
cisely the same in character as the swelling of the
bursa mucosa below the knee-pan in the human
subject; a soft, elastic enlargement of the gland,
to which housemaids and char-women, accustomed
to clean floors while kneeling, are particularly
liable. The purchaser will at once discover them,
not only by the eye, but by the peculiar pulpy
feel that is found on pressure. Where he finds
this defect, he may consider the horse unfit for
severe work, for he has already done too much,
but not necessarily unsound. I have lately pur-
chased a mare which is subject to this complaint;
her hind legs are remarkably "puffed." I have
had her in regular work for about six months,
and I find that she is scarcely able to carry weight
in the saddle, though she has no other symptom of
disease. She goes very safely, however, in harness,
but occasionally drops behind, as if from debility.
I do not consider wind-galls to be any serious
objection to a draught horse.

A strain of the back sinews, (which I may ex-
plain to the unscientific reader, are the tendons of
those muscles that are attached to the arm of the
leg, between the knee and the shoulder,) is an
injury of common occurrence : the outward symp-

85

torn of it, is enlargement and tenderness. It is
not difficult to discover this^ even when the eye
is unable to perceive any sweUing. We cannot
assist our scrutiny in this case by actual measure-
ment, because the flat shape of the leg, and the
deep position of the injured part, may allow of
considerable enlargement, without any material
difference in the circumference of the healthy and
unsound limb ; but the feel of the tendon is too
peculiar to leave room for doubt. In the sound
limb, the tendon is well defined, perfectly distinct,
and has a tense, hard character, that resembles
the touch of a cord tightly strung. In the un-
sound leg, instead of the distinct perception of a
hard, ropy substance, the tendon is traced by the
finger with difficulty ; it is not easy to distinguish
it from the integuments that surround it. Though,
strictly speaking, the limbs do not correspond
either in structure or position, it is not incorrect to
say, that the tendon Achilles, in the human frame,
conveys an apposite idea both of the character
and use of the back sinew in the fore leg of a
horse ; at all events, a man who wishes to inform
himself of the peculiar feel of a sound and healthy
sinew, cannot do it better than by examining with
his finger and thumb, the hard, firm nature of that
tendon in himself. If, in passing his hand down

86

both the legs, he is conscious of essential and
marked difference between them, he may conclude
that the horse is unsound.

Another defect of common occurrence in horses,
is splents. These are very often perceptible to the
eye, and almost always to the touch. Dealers
and every-day farriers call every indurated swell-
ing below the knee of a horse, a splent. I have
never been able to inform myself exactly what is
the true definition of a genuine splent. I have re-
ceived different explanations from almost every
veterinary surgeon that I have asked ; but Profes-
sor Sewell (whose name I do not like to mention,
without testifying to the courtesy and scientific
intelligence with which he has uniformly answered
every inquiry I have had occasion to make of him,
though I am scarcely entitled to call him an ac-
quaintance,) once showed me a specimen of a
double splent, from the collection of preparations
in the college. The bones of the leg had become
united by a secretion of ossified substance between
them ; if my recollection does not deceive me, for
it is some years since, he mentioned this as an ag-
gravated case. I believe, however, that in general
the splent is an enlargement of the bone, or at
least, an irregularity in the form of it, though un-
attended by pain or even inconvenience, unless its

87

situation is such as to impede the motion of the
tendons. In this case, it is often accompanied by
that sudden dropping which I have already de-
scribed as a " misgiving" of the leg, and the horse
falls very abruptly ,• perhaps in the middle of his
speed.

I lately had a horse which I had driven for
about two years ; I frequently rode him, and with
confidence : he never stumbled, or made even a
doubtful step. I lent him to a friend, whose ser-
vant one day fell with him. He injured his knees
very seriously, but in a few weeks recovered his
usual action, having been well cured by Mr.
Woodin of Park Road, whose skill I have already
had occasion to notice. After this I drove him
for several months, and considered him sound;
but for reasons best known to himself, he twice
broke down, even in harness, as suddenly as if he
had been shot: of course I parted with him. I
never could discover any other defect in this horse
than a large '^ double splent," as it is called, in his
off fore leg. He was sold at Tattersall's, without
a warranty, to a dealer. I inquired about him two
months after the sale, but I did not learn that he
had ever been down again.

There is not a dealer in London who will not tell
you that splents are of no consequence ; and if by

88

this they mean, as I believe they generally do,
that those little tubercles or excrescences on the
bone which usually go by the general name of
splents, are immaterial, perhaps they are right; but
nevertheless, I should alv^ays regard their appear-
ance as a serious blemish, if I found them near the
knee-joint, or seated in the posterior part of the leg,
or wherever situated, if so large as to be prominent,
and distinctly visible to the eye. As regards the
pleasantness of a horse, it is just as disagreeable
to ride one that you think will fall, as one that is
already a professed stumbler ; and you never can
feel perfectly secure with a splent under you, wher-
ever it may appear. It certainly, however, would
not be deemed unsoundness, if the animal was not
actually lame. Dealers will tell you, ay, and swear
to it stoutly, that they frequently disappear after
a year or two, or even a few months. That casual
swellings, and perhaps of a callous nature, may do
so, I will not deny ; but, if I am right in assuming
the real splent to be an unnatural ossification of
the membrane that covers the bone, or of the sur-
rounding integuments, I believe that it will never
disappear, and on the contrary, has a constant
tendency to increase. I must in candour, however,
admit a fact that rather militates against my posi-
tion,— that splents are not commonly found in old

89

horses. In the case which I have just mentioned,
my horse certainly was eight years old when I
sold him ; but I have observed them in at least
four or five horses of the age of five and six, for
one that was aged. This very season I inspected a
lot of five-year-olds just arrived from the country, —
all high-priced horses : there was only one out of
five that did not show a decided splent.

The next point to which I would direct a pur-
chaser's attention is " cutting." This means an
abrasion of the skin on one leg, by the striking or
brushing of the other. Even behind, this is no
trifling matter ; but if it occurs in the fore legs, it
is fatal to a horse's character, unless the wound is
I obviously recent, and can at once be explained by
an apparent defect in the shoeing. Sometimes, but
not often, it only proceeds from faulty action ; but
it usually argues a far more serious defect. The
cause of it is a debility in the leg, arising either
from old injury, or recent disease: an attentive
examiner will generally find a blemished knee the
accompaniment of a wounded ancle. There cer-
itainly are many cases in which a young horse,
recently brought up from a great distance in the
country, and whose action is green and untutored,
will be found to have cut himself severely, without
any visible affection of the limb. In such cases.

90

when brought into regular training, the habit is
cured, and perhaps never recurs ; but though this
explanation is always at hand with the dealer, it is
never to be received for gospel, especially where
the cicatrix appears of long standing. I was
mounted about a year ago on the handsomest cob
in London ; I think I never saw a horse of finer
frame, and very few of better action. I bought
him of Mr. Osborne, and of course, for a price pro-
portioned to his apparent merits. I rode him for
a week with perfect satisfaction : indeed such was
the admiration that he excited, that I was re-
peatedly asked by strangers about his pedigree
and character. After the lapse of six days, my
groom informed me that he had cut himself. I
was incredulous : it proved to be a mere scratch,
and I attributed it to accident ; the following day
the blemish became more visible, and I rode him
back to Osborne's, to inquire whether it had been
habitual. Banks (the head groom) assured me
that it never had occurred before, and could only
be ascribed to the sudden change in the horse's
habits, from idleness to regular work. Being an
old customer at the stables, I had not the least
distrust of these assurances, and continued riding
him : for two days he never touched himself, but
after that time the injury was becoming serious,

91

and I called in the opinion of Mr. Sewell. He at
once pronounced him lame from spavin. My reader
must perceive that I am not quite destitute of
experience; yet I had never detected either the
lameness or the disease ; the cutting was the only
' obvious symptom of either to an unskilful eye,
though, it must be owned, one sufficiently decisive.
It is only due to Osborne to say that he received
I him back again with very little hesitation ; notwith-
standing one of his subordinate agents blustered
loudly about it, and, " if it were his horse, he
j would not take him back at any price, after being
1 so knocked about! ! ! " the only "knocking about"
j being that of his own limbs. From Osborne, I
I have always received civility and attention, nor
has he ever " taken me in ;" but I never trust any
commission dealer, farther than my own eyes war-
rant the confidence. I may observe, en passant,
that whenever a horse is returned on a dealer's
hands for unsoundness, unless the seller is one of
that respectable class which I have before de-
scribed, this is the ordinary salute, although the
animal may have been nursed like my lady's lap-
dog, and prove as unsound as a walnut in January,
i If you are sure that you are right, and that the
1 man is solvent, your best, and indeed your only
retort, is a letter from your attorney.

92

Where "cutting, or "interference," as it is
more scientifically called, proceeds from faulty
action, farriers will often attempt to cure it by
an alteration in the shoe. For a time the cure
appears perfect, but I have always found in such
cases, that after a few days, a wound appears in
another place, an inch higher or lower perhaps, in
the leg. I have no faith in any remedy of the
kind ; a boot or a pad, fastened round the hoof
that interferes, is the only effectual precaution. I
have heard of another plan being successfully
adopted, namely, cutting off the interior extremity
of the shoe ; but although in dry weather this may
succeed, it will occasion a yet more serious evil
when the roads become wet. The heel that is
left unprotected by the iron will be worn away,
and lameness will certainly ensue.

Authors, like horses, are sometimes apt to
gallop over their ground too fast. I have omitted
in my remarks on the diseases of the foot, to notice
a symptom of frequent occurrence and easy de-
tection. If the feet appear to the hand unusually
warm, distrust should be awakened ; more espe-
cially if there is a marked difference between their
temperature. The hoof ought to be perfectly cool :
after hard riding on a beaten road, or over stones,
particularly in dry weather, a little warmth will

93

generally be perceptible ; but this should subside
after two or three hours' rest in the stall. A simple
way of assuring oneself of the accuracy of the
observation, is by directing the groom to wash the
hoofs thoroughly, and noticing whether one of
them dries more rapidly than the other. The
feverish foot will always become dry first, and will
recover its unnatural warmth in a few minutes ;
while the sound foot will remain cool. Should a
disposition to rest the heated foot be also noticed,
the horse may safely be set down as unsound.

I rejected a horse for this reason a very few
weeks after writing the preceding remarks. The
owner, who is a friend, as well as client of mine,
and a gentleman of great practical skill in stock,
had ofiered me the horse on my own terms merely
to oblige me, as I had been in treaty for him before
he purchased him. He was surprised at my re-
jecting him, and still more at the objection I
made ; but having no wish to sell the horse, he
was rather pleased than otherwise to take him
back again. It is now nine months ago, and
chronic lameness has shown itself for the last
fifteen wrecks in the foot that I suspected. He
is now fit for nothing but the leader of a stage.
There was no other symptom of disease when I
first examined him, than an unnatural heat about

94

the hoof ; this exhibited itself in the morning, after
riding him for about three miles, but I found that
the warmth had abated in the course of an hour,
so as to leave the matter rather equivocal. In the
afternoon I rode him again the same distance, but
rather faster, and then the effect was decisive ; the
diseased foot retained its heat till the following

I "Broken knees" deserve to have had a chapter
j dedicated to their exclusive service.

Every tyro that has ever mounted a horse in
I his hfe, flatters himself that at least he can detect
'a "broken knee;" and if a square inch of hair is
removed, disclosing a wound of an inch diameter,
perhaps he may ; but should my pages be honoured
by the notice of a reader of this description, he
will probably be astonished when I tell him, that
the actual injury may be ten times more extensive,
when the apparent blemish is almost imperceptible.
A wounded knee, as such, is only a blemish, and,
abstractedly, of no more consequence than any
casual disfigurement of the head or flank ; but it
iS always an indication of existing or recent un-
soundness; at least it should, in prudence, be al-
vvays so regarded, unless it happens to be within

96

the purchaser's personal knowledge that the fall
was occasioned by accident, independent of disease.
The slightest mark therefore, upon the knee, should
suggest a very narrow scrutiny in the legs, feet,
action, and every point about a horse. Even where
no possible trace of local disease can be found, a
purchaser should not rest satisfied, but follow up
his inquiry into the horse's constitution. The stag-
gers, the megrims, and many similar stomach com-
plaints, may have occasioned the fall of a horse,
and consequently the blemish on his knee, while
his legs remain as free from defect as a foal's. In
short, I would never buy a horse with blemished
knees, however slight the injury might appear,
unless his history for the last six months had been
familiar to me from personal knowledge. A horse
will never fall if he can help it, and nine times out
of ten is as much frightened by the accident as his
rider.

Where, from peculiar circumstances such as I
have mentioned, a man is not deterred from pur-
chasing, he should carefully observe whether the
injured knee is enlarged ; if he finds this to be the
case, it is to be inferred that there is considerable
local injury: he should also notice with more than
usual attention whether the action of the horse is
restrained or imperfect. It may be fairly assumed

97

that all decided injury to the knee-joint is in-
curable : the horse may be restored to moderate
work, especially in harness ; but for the saddle he
is totally incapacitated.

It follows that it is of the last importance to de-
tect the slightest trace of injury to the knee-joint ;
nor is this difficult. The first, and obvious inquiry
will be, whether both knees correspond in shape :
I the eye alone can help us here, for the form of the
joint does not admit of very correct measurement,
and even if it did, the test would be uncertain.
Very few men will find both their wrists of exactly
I the same dimensions ; if there is no visible differ-
I ence in shape, it should be noticed whether the
hair is uniformly smooth and glossy. Where no
injury has been sustained, there is an even, shining-
surface over the whole front of the knee ; where
there has been a blemish, there is generally an
interruption of the gloss, as if, at a particular spot,
the hair had become inverted, or grew in an
oblique direction. Should this be observed, the
foot should be taken up so as to bend the joint,
when the break in the hair will become more
apparent : by slightly parting the hair with the
finger, (an operation, by the way, to which all
dealers and ostlers have a supreme aversion,) a
scar may be easily detected, if any exists. A

H

98

practised eye will perceive a blemish without half
of these minute precautions ; but as I am writing
for the benefit of the inexperienced, I would not
advise the omission of one of them, whenever a
doubt is entertained.

It would not be inexpedient to look for a scar
an the head, and above the eye ; for a decided fall
often leaves very unequivocal symptoms there.
During the whole process, the purchaser must
stop his ears with cotton.

Lameness of the shoulder is by no means so
frequent as is commonly supposed. Every igno-
rant smith who finds a horse lame, and cannot dis-
cover any very obvious cause, such as those which
I have been describing, attributes it, as a matter
of course, to the shoulder. I believe that nineteen
times out of twenty, the foot will be found to be
m fault ; there are many cases in which disease
undoubtedly exists in the feet, where no outward
indication of it is shown. A deep-seated bruise
will often be followed by a secretion of matter
under the horny sole, without any visible enlarge-
ment or depression of the cavity of the hoof;
sometimes (though rarely) the injury is detected
by the appearance of matter exuding from fissures
in the coronet; but where external symptoms like
these are wanting, the inexperienced farrier assumes

99

that the shoulder is stramed, or otherwise injured j
and turning his attention there, leaves the part
actually diseased to its chance. I have so fre-
quently been told by men that their horses are
lame in the shoulder, and it so often occurs that
under this conviction they part with them as in a
case admitting of no cure, that I have thought
myself justified in departing a little from my
avowed object, to caution people against being too
easily led into this mischievous error. If there is
a suspicion that the seat of the disease is the
shoulder, the horse should be tried in various
ways, to ascertain if difference of ground or pace
will diminish or increase the lameness. Where the
shoulder is injured, the horse will be equally lame
on turf, straw, or the road ; he will not easily be
stimulated to a trot or a canter, and if he is, the
limp in the action will become yet more apparent :
the reverse is usually the case, when the feet or
legs are in fault. He will lie down and rise with
great difficulty. In all these cases, of course, much
depends on the degree of injury ; but however
trifling, it is likely to show itself more in propor-
tion as speed is increased or continued; and in
this respect, it differs essentially from slight injury
in other parts of the leg. It is well known that
this is often concealed from the eye, by urginor the
h2

100

animal to his full pace : hence the reluctance to
lay aside the whip, when the dealer is showing his
horse.

It so rarely occurs, that the lameness of a
shoulder can ever be concealed from the notice
even of the most superficial observer, that it is
unnecessary to put him on his guard against im-
position here. Where it does exist only in a slight
degree, and arises from chest-founder, it contracts
the motion of both legs equally, and gives the
horse more of a ivooden hobbling, than a limping
or halting action. A man may be led by this to
consider that which is really lameness, to be only
defective action : if he only views it in this light,
it is quite a suiEcient reason for rejecting the horse
altogether : at all events, he will err on the safe
side. I have seen a horse affected in this way at
starting, by rheumatism, and after a little exercise
the pain has subsided, and the lameness has disap-
peared altogether ; but though a slight rheumatic
affection either of the leg or shoulder is not an
affair of much consequence, a prudent man will
never buy a horse upon such an explanation of
lameness at starting. The disease of chest-
founder has been considered by some writers to be
nothing more than rheumatism. A very intelligent
friend of mine, well versed in sporting matters, has

101

explained it to me as arising from a languor and
debility of the pectoral muscles, consequent upon
the inactivity that lameness or other accident oc-
casions : and in proof of this, he says that he has
always noticed it accompanied by disease of the
feet or legs ; if it were always preceded by such
local affections, his reasoning would be plausible.
It is acknowledged however, to be a complaint of
an unusual character, and I do not pretend to offer
any pathological explanation of it.

One of the most difficult lessons for a beginner
is to detect a slight affection of the wind : indeed
I doubt if any verbal explanations can much assist
him in his j udgment. I have ridden many a broken-
winded horse for weeks, and even months, before
I discovered it. In slight cases it is not of much
consequence : but in this, as in almost every disease,
pathology tells us that unhealthy action is pro-
gressive. What is only a "thick breathing" to-day,
may a month or two hence, settle into a chronic
asthmatic affection ; and more especially if in the
interim the work has been rapid and severe. It
is therefore, however slight, an unsoundness to be
avoided. I conclude that every body now knows
the seat of the disease to be the lungs, though
even that was for a long time a vexata qusestio :
the cause of it is supposed to be injudicious and

102

immoderate feediiis:. The intestines are distended
unnaturally, till the stomach presses on the dia-
phragm, and this makes a full respiration painful :
the mucous secretion of the larynx, or windpipe,
and lungs, is increased, and the throat is filled with
phlegm: a cough is requisite to discharge it, and
that cough becomes habitual. This little explana-
tion which I offer, (not as scientific, but as sub-
stantially correct,) will assist us to the diagnosis
by which the complaint may be detected.

Where in rapid action a horse pants, and his
sides heave up quickly, " blowing like a bellows,"
as the jockeys term it, we may be sure that the
wdnd is seriously affected ; if, besides this, he has
a constant hacking cough, we shall not be far out
in saying that he is decidedly broken-winded.

It is not easy to put a horse to his gallop in the
confined ride of a stable-yard ; nor, if you are so
fortunate as to find a dealer that will trust you out
of sight, is it desirable to endanger the limbs of'
passengers : you may " do what you please with
your own." We must therefore, resort to some
more simple, or at least more practicable mode of
getting at the truth.

The common course is to pinch the horse, by
pressing the wind-pipe closely with the finger and
thumb, in the hollow of the throat, at the top of

103

the neck : this brings on that husky cough which
marks the disease. Many horses, perhaps most
will cough, and that violently, if the pressure is
severe ; but there is an essential difference between
the loud and spasmodic cough which the healthy
horse will utter, and the hacking tone of chronic
asthma. Until a man has learned to distinguish
between the two, he might as well pinch his own
throat as the horse's ; and as this distinction can
only be acquired by practice, it is as I have ob-
served, very difficult for a beginner to satisfy him-
self on this point. It may however, be inferred by
the most unskilful, that if the horse, seeming other-
wise quiet, flinches from the approach of the hand,
it is because he has frequently been tried, and
therefore perhaps, frequently excited the suspicions
of better-informed customers.

Very analogous to this disorder is the enviable
faculty called " roaring," which, if I remember
right, that celebrated equestrian Geoffrey Gambado
recommends as an inestimable quality in your horse,
because it saves your voice, to summon the toll-
collector to his gate : nevertheless these " roarers"
are usually silent in a dealer's stable. I believe
that the seat of the disease is the throat, or more
correctly speaking, the wind-pipe. It is considered
incurable. It is not elicited by any moderate exer-

104

tion, and consequently the horse must be galloped
to ensure detection. Where for the reasons before
stated, this test cannot be resorted to, it is usual to
strike the horse very suddenly, and even severely,
under the flank : this excites the " roar." I cannot
advise the beginner to try the experiment: he would
act more prudently, in most cases, were he to put
up with an unsound purchase. I have seen the
joke retorted in no very courteous way, and the
striker has proved to be the loudest " roarer" of the
two. — I once saw a veteran dealer receive a kick
that cured him, at least for that day, of all practi-
cal experiments upon " roaring" horses. There is
another means by which the symptoms of either a
roarer or a broken-winded horse may be made to
develop themselves in a more decided manner —
allowing the animal to drink to repletion : this im-
mediately aggravates every symptom to such an
extent as to leave little room for doubt as to the
existence of the disease : but it being impracticable
to avail oneself of this test in the dealer's stables,
before the purchase is made, I only mention it as
a convenient method of satisfying the judgment,
if, after the horse is brought home, his soundness
appears so equivocal as to make it expedient to
enforce the warranty. A purchaser who has the
opportunity of trotting the horse at a sharp pace,

105

for three or four miles, will observe a heaving of
the flanks, when the wind is affected even but
shghtly, for two or three hours after. People are
too apt to be satisfied if, during such a ride as this,
no unsoundness is visibly displayed. Even where
no cause of suspicion arises, it would be prudent
to return to the stables and view the horse a second
time after three hours' rest.

I It is obvious that most of the remarks which I
have offered on unsoundness in the fore legs, will
'apply to the hind legs ; but it must be observed
that similar diseases, either in the legs or feet
behind, are of far less consequence. My friend
'Gambado, whom I have already quoted, gives a
I hint on this subject which has more of truth in it
than its absurdity of enunciation w^ould lead us to
suspect. He considers it a work of supererogation,
to examine the hinder parts of a horse, because,
I'"' if the fore legs go, the hind must follow ! " In
the language of the schools this is decidedly a
non-sequitur ; and yet, from the very attitude and
structure of the horse, it is undoubtedly true that
I in motion the fore legs have to endure the greatest
exertion, at the same time that their free action is
. almost impeded by the weight and position of the
J rider. This is clearly proved by a circumstance
'well known to every experienced rider. Many

106

horses that will stumble at every step when the
saddle is thrown on as with a pitchfork, will carry
safely if it is removed a few inches back, and, if the
form of the horse will not allow of its remaining
long in its proper position, retaining it there by the
aid of a crupper. It is also well understood that
a good rise of the shoulder is a strong recommenda-
tion of a horse for the saddle ; and the reason ig
similar, — it prevents the saddle working forward so
far as to interfere with the free play of the shoulder-
blade, and it secures the weight of the rider at a
proper point in the centre of the body. The crup-
per is now superseded by the patent saddle-cloth ;
or what is better, because cooler, by simply lining
the saddle with plush.

But though the perfect soundness of the hinder
extremities is less material, it by no means follows
that all attention to them is superfluous. A horse
may not fall because he is spavined, or cuts him-
self behind, but he will not work ; and if he does,
it will be ungracefully for the rider, and painfully
to himself.

The bone spavin, as it is called, is a very serious
complaint, and, unless it receives early attention,
not very easily cured. It proceeds from a defi-
ciency of that synovial secretion which lubricates
the joint; hence the joint becomes inflamed, and

107

as is commonly the case in inflammatory disorders
of the bones, a deposit of ossified matter is formed,
and an anchylosis, or permanent rigidity of the
[joint, ensues. The same gentleman to whom I
have referred at page 100, has expressed to me his
dissent from this explanation. I have such a high
opinion of his practical know^ledge, as a veteran
sportsman, that I think myself bound in candour
|to mention this; but till I receive some more
scientific explanation, I feel compelled to adhere
to my own. If^ in the inflammatory stage, the
usual antiphlogistic remedies are administered, the
disease may be checked ; but till the spavin is
actually produced, and its presence detected by
outward symptoms, the horse is rarely put under
veterinary care, for the very reason I have given — ■
that so few people attach importance to casual
lameness behind.

My business, however, is not to write a treatise
on farriery, but to caution purchasers ; and I must
return to it. The presence of a spavin is detected
at once in its advanced state by the stiffness of the
joint, and the lameness of the horse, especially at
starting ; of course, therefore, a customer is never
introduced to a decided spavin; but even in its
incipient state, it may be discovered by the en-
largement of the joint. If the purchaser places

108

himself behind the horse, (and in examining the
horse behind, he should always direct the helpei
to pick up the fore-foot,) he will perceive that the
bone of the diseased hock does not incline gradually
towards the lower part of the limb, (as will be the
case in the other leg, if that is sound,) but projects
abruptly. The unpractised eye does not readily
observe this : but by drawing the hand down the
inside of both hocks, the abrupt projection will be
felt. If there is any tenderness on pressure, though
this is not always the case, the existence of disease
may be yet more certainly predicated ; and it is
always a circumstance to excite suspicion, even
when no external enlargement can be seen or felt,
if there is the appearance of recent cutting on the
inside of the fetlock joints, or a dragging of the
hind leg at the beginning of the trot, or a project-
ing " staring " appearance of the hair at the part
which is usually affected by spavin.

Another disease that is also called a spavin, but
distinguished by the name of bog-spavin, is in its
origin the reverse of the last. It arises from too
great an accumulation of synovial fluid, and cor-
responds in character with the complaint already
described under the term of wind-galls ; it proceeds
from over-exertion. It does not necessarily produce
lameness, but it unfits a horse for severe labour.

109

md is, of course, objectionable. When the svvell-
ng extends from one side of the leg to the other, or
:hrough the limb as it were, it is called " thorough
)in."

A curb (from the French word coiirber) is a
ivvelling of the back part of the hock, just below
;he cap of the joint, and arises from a sudden
;train, such as the abrupt halt in a charge of
i3avalry. In the sound state, the line of the leg
Tom the hock to the heel is almost perpendicular :
fit inclines at all, it is inwardly. The effect of a
burb is to alter this inclination immediately under
i;he hock, and to give a little elevation or outward
purvature to the line : of course it becomes visible
on looking at the profile of the leg. Lameness is
Dy no means a necessary consequence, especially
f the disease is of old standing : the eye, therefore,
)r the touch, must be relied upon as the only cer-
ain guide to discover it.

A capped hock, as it is called, is a complaint
hat should always excite suspicion. It is a soft,
)ulpy tumour at the tip of the hock, and usually
(ccasioned by a blow or a kick against the side of
he stall. Where such a swelling is perceived, it
hould lead to a very close examination of the
vhole joint, for it is often caused by a violent
prain. If it appears to be wholly independent of

110

other injury, it can scarcely be considered unsound-
ness, because it will not produce lameness : it ij
more prudent, however, to infer that it is an indi-
cation of disease or latent injury of the joint, and
consequently to reject the horse. As a genera
rule, it is more hazardous to buy where these
equivocal symptoms appear, than when there an
more decided marks of disease ; because the re-
medy on the warranty becomes far more doubtful.
Grease is a discharge of matter from the heel
most usually found in the hind feet, but not unfre
quently before. It is attended with swelling anc
excoriation of the skin, and when it has arrived a
any considerable extent, ulcers are formed, ven
difficult indeed in their cure. A purchaser, how
ever, is not likely to meet with a horse exhibiting
such decided symptoms : it is only in the incipien
stage of the disease that he is likely to be taker
in. To ascertain whether there is any menace o
the complaint, he should notice in the first instance
whether there is generally an enlarged and full
appearance of the legs — not confined to the bacfe
sinews, or the joints, but extending over the lowei
part of the entire limb. This appearance is called
technically a swelled leg, and is the usual proximate
cause of grease. Should there be any indication
of the kind, he should next examine the colour o1

Ill

he skin above the heel : if it is red and scurfy^

nd especially if there are any cracks, correspond-

ig with the well-known complaint in the human

ubject called a chapped hand, he may safely

ionclude that there is a tendency to grease ; nor

nil he be likely to err if he draws the same in-

krence from a heel remarkably clean, as if it had

]teen recently well washed with soap and water ;

\oT it is not common to bestow such anxious atten-

ion upon the cleanliness of the heels, unless to

emove the symptoms of grease ; in all such cases

jrequent washing is considered a useful precaution.

I String-halt is a complaint so common, that every

fian who has ever looked at a horse must at some

iime have noticed it. It is a catching-up of the

lind leg much above the height necessary to clear

he ground, as if the horse had suddenly trod upon

. bar of heated iron : it is understood to arise m a

iseased spine, producing an affection of the nerves

escending to the muscles of the leg, and causing

spasmodic action of those muscles. If this pa-

hologicalfact were well established, no doubt could

xist that string-halt is unsoundness; but it is

ery unfortunate for society that the veterinary art

5 so little understood upon scientific principles, as

0 render it almost impossible, in most cases, to

Toduce to a jury any other evidence than the loose

112

opinions of mere practical farriers. Men of this
class never regard a string-halt as unsoundness,
for not one in a hundred has the least conception
of the seat of the disorder: a purchaser must
consequently, be upon his guard before he buys,
and not rely upon his warranty at all to protect
him in this case. The only hint that I can give
him is to watch the action of the horse as soon as
ever he is shown ; for the defect is most visible at
the moment his action begins, and not unfrequently
disappears after he has been exercised five or ten
minutes on the ride.

I will take this opportunity of making a remark
applicable to most cases of shght lameness. The
frequent exhibition of a horse during the day, when
the spring is just beginning, will make him more
supple and pliant in his action than when he is
first led out of the stable in the morning. A pur-
chaser who wishes to see a horse to disadvantage,
ought therefore to visit the stables at an early
hour, at least not later than nine o'clock : he will
detect stiffness of the joints with much more
facility at this time of the morning than when the
day is more advanced. There are other advan-
tages which an observant buyer may derive from
such early visits : sometimes the removal of night
bandages may be noticed ; sometimes; as in a case

113

I have already mentioned, a careful ^wz'wg down of
the legs, after the warmth of the night's rest has
swelled them up to the dimensions proper to dis-
ease. Nor is it unfrequently the case, that the
understrappers about a stable, especially if you
tip one of them half-a-crown in a quiet way, will
let you privately into the merits and demerits of
the whole stud, before they appear in full dress for
the day to the fashionable customer who strolls
in at three or four o'clock in the afternoon. I do
not commend, however, these underhand methods
of gaining information, though I know that they
are practised successfully. A gentleman must
sustain his character, even in treating with a dealer
whose honesty is questionable.

I DOUBT not that by this time my reader will
think that, to purchase for himself, it is essential
he should study the veterinary art. It is not
exactly so, though the more he knows, the more
distrustful he will be of his own judgment. The
precautions which I have hitherto suggested are
for the most part, such as every man with a correct
eye, aided by a little common sense, will have no
difficulty in adopting ; but, in those cases to which
I am about to refer, I must acknowledge, that, with-
out some scientific skill, I doubt if any suggestions
will be of value. I will offer a few, however, and
leave them to their chance.

The eye of the horse is susceptible of many
diseases ; and almost any serious affection of that
organ, or any violent inj ury to it, is likely to occa-
sion loss of sio'ht. Yet to detect unsoundness in

o

the eye has been to me the most difficult problem

115

that I have ever had to solve in the mysteiy of
horse-dealing.

I must enter a little into the anatomical descrip-
tion of it, to make the subject at all intelligible;
though here again the reader would act more wisely
to apply to an intelligent practitioner, and ask him
to show him an eye, and explain its structure.

The eye-ball is enclosed in a white membrane
called the tunica conjunctiva, which, after em-
bracing the globe of the eye, extends itself over
the interior surface of both eye-lids. The sclerotic
coat forms the external or horny membrane of the
eye, beginning from the optic nerve, and termi-
nating in the margin of the cornea. The choroides
is a dark membrane, also beginning from the optic
nerve, and Hning the interior surface of the sclerotic
coat, till it approaches the margin of the cornea ;
and in its anterior portion it forms the circular
membrane called the iris. Here, as is well known,
a circle is left ; the choroides terminating at the
inner margin of the iris, in plaits or folds called the
ciliary processes, so as to leave what to the ignorant
appears merely a black spot, known as the pupil,
but which in fact is rather a perforation allowing
the passage of the rays of light, when refracted by
the crystalline lens, to reach every portion of the
retina. This last-named membrane is an expansion
i2

116

of the optic nerve over every portion of the interior
surface of the choroides, till it arrives at the edge
of the crystaUine lens.

The cornea is formed by the first membrane, the
conjunctiva : it is the transparent convex substance
that forms, as it were, the outward case for the
pupil and iris.

The anterior chamber of the eye, being the cavity
between the cornea and the iris, and the posterior
chamber, which extends from the iris inwardly to
a reflection of the choroides, called the uvea, are
both occupied by a transparent fluid named the
aqueous humour.

The crystaUine lens is also a firm but transpar-
ent humour, of a convex form ; it is contained in a
very delicate membrane, called the capsula, and is
imbedded in the vitreous humour — a very fine
transparent fluid, filling the whole cavity of the
globe, behind the lens.

Externally, the eye-ball and the cornea are lu-
bricated by the tears.

There is some difference in the construction of
the human eye, and that organ in the horse ; the
tears have a variety in their passage into the nostril,
and there are seven muscles that are employed in
the motion of the horse's eye, whereas there are
only six in a man : but a minute anatomical exami-

117

nation would be out of place : the only other point
to which I intend to allude is the action of the iris.
It is well known that the pupil, as it is called,
expands or contracts, as the light is withdrawn or
shed upon the eye. This is occasioned by the ex-
pansion or contraction of the iris ; the former par-
tially closing up the perforation called the pupil, so
as to allow less of the dark interior surface of the
choroides to be visible through the aperture ; the
contraction of the iris, on the other hand, dilating the
opening, so as to expose a larger portion of the cho-
roides. Some eminent anatomists have ascertained
that the iris consists of muscular fibre, though so
delicate as almost to exceed the power of concep-
tion to those who are not conversant with the extra-
ordinary powers of nature ; exhibited perhaps to
greatest advantage in the minutest of her works.

If this imperfect sketch of the construction of
that wonderful organ, the eye, should only have the
effect of tempting my reader to a personal exami-
nation of it for himself, he will not grudge the idle
hour that he may have been tempted to throw away
on my previous pages.

The pupil of the human eye in the healthy state,
has always a black appearance, such being the
colour of the human choroides : in animals it
varies extremely, and on very recent dissection has

118

the greatest variety of richest hues ; though it is
extremely difficult to obtain a subject so imme-
diately after death as to make the observation,
except by waiting in the slaughter-house : in the
human subject this is obviously impossible; but
probably, if the opportunity of examination could
be found, the choroid coat would display a similar
richly-coloured carpet in man. I may observe in
passing, that those who are desirous of examining
the organ for themselves, will find the eye of the
pig approach most nearly to the shape and con-
struction of our own.

The choroides in the horse is blue in its appear-
ance, and it is very important to remember the dis-
tinction. I once bought a horse for my cabriolet,
through the intervention of one of those go-betweens
that I have described : the man had for many
years been a Newmarket jockey, and to do him
justice, found me a very serviceable and showy
animal. It was a large chestnut gelding, nearly
sixteen hands high, with excellent action, and the
price was but twenty-five pounds : he had a slight
blemish on one knee, but so slight as not to be
observable without close inspection. When he
showed me the animal I was at once satisfied that
there was something wrong, for it was a fair sixty-
guinea horse ; and to have deducted ten for so

119

slight a blemish, and in a harness horse, would
have been Hberal. I told him my suspicions,
and he answered, with a very knowing look,
that he was blemished in both eyes, but would
probably retain his sight during the season, and
then would fetch my money for a leader in the
mail. I inspected his eyes, but in vain : the Httle
jockey tried again and again to make me under-
stand the cloudy aspect of them — " all like a blue
haze, Sir." I modestly set it down to my own
ignorance, and was well satisfied to take my
chance. The horse had his faults, sure enough :
but blindness was never one of them; his heels
were flat, tender, and contracted, and I was events
ually obliged to put him for a time in a farrier's
hands, when I took the opportunity of inquiring if
his eyes were good ; they were perfectly so ; not
the least trace of speck or cloud. I drove him for
nearly twelve months, and he never appeared to
have his sight at all affected, or any other fault
except the tenderness of his heels. The jockey
was right, however, in his speculation: I re-sold
him at a profit.

I have omitted one essential difference between
the human and equine eye. The pupil in the
former is circular ; in the latter an oval with the
sides depressed, and the upper ridge of the oval is

120

rendered uneven by small bodies dependent from
the iris.

I have been told that there are similar bodies on
the lovi^er edge of the iris, but much more minute
in size. I have never observed them very distinctly
developed, but I by no means deny their existence.

There is another variation between the horse's
and the human eye, of a very important and pecu-
liar character : at the inner angle of the eye, there
is found a dark membrane that, apparently at the
pleasure of the animal, is shot rapidly over the
eye, like a veil: it is instantly withdrawn, and
in its rapid transit, cleans the eye-ball of dust or
foreign particles that may have accidentally lodged
upon it. This membrane is called the haw : it is
not muscular, but its action is curiously explained ;
it is projected from its place by the compression, or
rather depression of the eye-ball into the socket,
occasioned by the retractor muscle. When the eye
is depressed by the play of this muscle, the elas-
ticity of the fatty substance behind the eye-ball
causes the haw to extend itself from the corner of
the eye, over the visible surface ; when the retractor
muscle ceases to act, the eye-ball resumes its usual
position, the fat returns to its place behind, and the
haw also returns to the socket from which it has
been momentarily pushed forward.

121

I am the more particular in thus describing the
utihty and action of the haw, because such is the
gross ignorance of the majority of country farriers,
that when this membrane has been affected by a
temporary inflammation of the eye, and thus be-
come enlarged and more prominent than usual, it
has been regarded as a diseased excrescence, and
actually extirpated, to the permanent injuiy of the
horse. Instead of endeavouring to subdue the
inflammation by the ordinary remedies, it has ap-
peared the simplest way to remove the diseased
part ; and thus the eye, though for a time appar-
ently restored to health, has in the end been lost
by the casual introduction of impurities, such as
dust, flies, &c., which there no longer remains any
natural means of removing. It will scarcely be
credited by general readers, that so prevalent is
this error as to have found a place in that learned
work, the Encyclopaedia of Rees, where, under the
article haw, this membrane is described as a dis-
eased tumour in the eye, and instructions are given
for removing it ! ! ! This may give a useful hint
not to confide very readily in the opinions of those
farriers, whose station in life justifies a suspicion
that their knowledge is merely practical, and not
founded upon scientific instruction.

The first point to which I would direct attention,

122

is the colour of the inner surface of the eyehds.
I have noticed that its natural colour is white;
where it is found of a red colour, without any-
apparent signs of local injury, such as tenderness
and swelling, it is a symptom of inflammatory dis*
ease : if instead of red, a yellow tinge predominates,
it may be inferred that the digestive organs are
affected, — every body has noticed this in a man
subject to the jaundice — the same rule applies to
the horse.

If an excess of tears should be observed, it de-
notes a general debility of the organ, and should
occasion a more than usual scrutiny.

But the principal object is to ascertain if the
sensibility of the eye is affected : this is discovered
by carefully noticing whether the pupil expands
and contracts to a perceptible extent on approach-
ing the light. London stables are usually dark,
and when the horse is examined in the stable, the
pupil, if sound, will of course be large : when he
is led out of the stable, it will contract so as to
exhibit a sensible difference. If there is no essen-
tial difference between the stable and the yard, as
is often the case when the latter is roofed over, it
will be expedient to bring the horse into the open
street, and then, by closing the eye-lids with the
hand, to observe whether on withdrawing it, the

123

dilated pupil perceptibly contracts. To make this
observation successfully, implies frequent practice ;.
but this is easily acquired by prevailing on some
friend to close his eye tvs^o or three times, and
covering it, while closed, with the hand : on rapidly
withdrawing the hand, you will notice a contraction
of the pupil, as soon as it is exposed to the glare
of sudden light. It will materially assist the judg-
ment to notice whether the oval outline of the pupil
is perfect ; if any irregularity or unevenness is per-
ceived, (except as to the upper line, for the reason
I already mentioned) — this, though no proof that the
optic nerve is diseased, is a certain mark that the
organ has received partial injury ; and it is imma-
terial to a purchaser from what [cause it has pro-
ceeded, if he is satisfied that inj ury has been received.
A decided cataract is readily detected, when the
nature of the complaint is explained : it is an
opacity of the crystalline lens. If the pupil appears
to be occupied by any cloudy and whitish sub-
stance, I will not say, speaking scientifically, that
it is a certain evidence of cataract, but it is pre-
sumably to be ascribed to that cause, and at all
events it is conclusive as to there being a defect of
sight. If the pupil has a circular, instead of a
flat, oval shape, already described, this too may be
considered as an indication of cataract.

124

Specks upon the eye are in one respect a more
serious, or at least a more annoying defect than
total blindness. A careful rider may by possibility
prevent a blind horse from charging a stage-coach,
but the most careful horseman is exposed to con-
stant annoyance by the starts and checks of a horse
that retains his sight only to a partial degree. If
the speck is in the front of the eye, he shies at a
carriage ; if it is lateral, he jumps at a straw. To
detect a speck, the eye should be viewed, not in
front, but from behind ; standing at the shoulder
of the horse, so as not to b^ deceived by the strong
reflection of the light on the surface of the cornea.
The speck is usually the cicatrix left by a small
ulcer, produced by inflammation. There is not a
dealer or an ostler in England who will not tell
you that it'is of no consequence; it has been caused
by a blow, a fly, and so forth : and if it could be
clearly ascertained to be no more than the effect of
such an accident, I should not attach much impor-
tance to it, if it were not veiy large ; for I have
known such specks gradually disappear by absorp-
tion : but it is impossible to ascertain this ; and
therefore the safest course is to assume that natural
irritability, with consequent inflammation of the
eye, is the cause, and upon this assumption to
reject the animal as unsound. An eye naturally

125

weak is far more liable to sustain serious injury
from the occurrence of those trifling accidents to
which all horses are exposed.

It may be observed as a general rule, that all
diseases of a horse's eye^ except such as proceed
from accident and local injury, are incurable. To
couch the cataract in a man, is not very diflicult,
and generally perhaps, under ordinary circum-
stances, successful : but the inflammation caused
by the operation in the horse, and the uncontrol-
lable power of the retractor muscle, are too great to
afford even a bare chance of success. A paralytic
affection of the optic nerve is hopeless in the case
of man, and of course not less so in animals. Wo
purchaser therefore, should be tempted by the hope
of cure. And I would add, though I am aware
that I am opposed to some high authorities, that
when one eye is lost by disease, the sight of the
other, however sound it may appear, is not likely
to be long preserved. My advice is to have nothing
to do with any horse where the slightest trace of
disease is visible in the eye, unless you are pur-
chasing him for a mill. In that case you may
as well begin with a blind one. It is scarcely
:necessary to add that blindness, whether partial or
total, is of comparatively little consequence in a
horse intended solely for draught. The blinkers

126

to a certain extent create an artificial blindness,
and in crowded streets it is desirable that they
should ; but except in four-wheeled carriages, de-
fective sight is objectionable, even in a draught
horse. I only mention the difference to guard
against the common error of selling a carriage
horse, otherwise valuable, because his sight is
injured.

The age of a horse is easily ascertained when
the progressive appearances of the teeth are ex-
plained. A horse has forty teeth; the twenty-
four beyond the bars (the hollow space where the
row of teeth is discontinued, and the palate is
marked by transverse ridges,) are never changed,
and of course give no indication of age ; the twelve
front teeth are cast at different periods; till cast,
they are called foal teeth. When they change,
the two centre teeth in each jaw are called nippers
or gatherers ; these appear at the age of three : the
two teeth adjoining the gatherers on either side,
are called middling ; they appear at four years :
the two next the middHng teeth are called the
corner teeth ; they rise above the gum at five : the
remaining two in either jaw are called tushes, cor-
responding in form with the eye-teeth in man ; the

128

appearance of the tushes is not regular, but those
in the lower jaw show themselves first, and com*
monly at the age of three, or three and a half.

The mark, as it is called, is a little cavity of a
dark colour, and about the size of a small grain of
oats, visible on the surface of the middhng and
corner teeth, and in a minor degree on the gather-
ers. It becomes filled up, making the surface
even at four years in the gatherers, at five in the
middhng teeth, and at seven in the corner teeth ;
after seven the age cannot be known by this cri-
terion ; but it should be noticed that though the
age in running horses has hitherto been usually
dated from the 1st of May, there is so much varia-
tion in the time of foaling as to make it impractica-
ble to speak with certainty to a few months more
or less. A late foal, w^hen four years of age in
sporting calculation, will not show his four-year-
old teeth till August or September, and of course
will sometimes pass for a three-year-old in the
spring, though, properly speaking, he ought to be
dated a year older. By a recent resolution of the
Jockey Club, blood-stock is now dated from the
1st of January, and of course this will lead to the
general adoption of the same rule in all stock.

After a horse is far advanced in his eighth year,
no reliance whatever can be placed on his mark \

129

and if he shows symptoms of age, its appearance
at all should be viewed with suspicion : but from
ten or eleven years the tushes elongate themselves
very considerably, and when a few years more
I advanced, all the front teeth assume a lengthy and
uneven character, far too distinct to allow of im-
position on the most inexperienced buyer. The
trick of cauterizing the teeth is usually practised
on horses under nine : and except with a view to
sell again, the loss of the mark or the creation of
a false one, is of little consequence, unless the
animal shows other signs of severe w^ork, or of
being stale y as it is commonly called : for my own
part I would prefer a horse of eight years old for
work, to one of six, if I could be sure that he had
been fairly treated; but it too often happens in
dealers' horses that " all their work is taken out of
them," even before they are six : at least four-fifths
are injured permanently by being set to work too
early in life.

It is not often that a glandered horse is found in
a dealer's stables : the disorder is now acknow-
ledged to be contagious, and its symptoms are too
, decided to allow even accident to bring him there.
; It may not however be amiss to mention the more
! obvious of these symptoms, to guard a purchaser
I against the accidental admission of such an animal

K

130

into his own stables. The disease is marked by a
very copious discharge of matter from the nose ;
perhaps it would be more correct to call it a mu-
cous discharge. The throat and fauces are much
swelled, and particularly the cheeks. In bad cases,
ulcers are formed in the cartilage of the nose ; they
are detected by the fetid smell of the breath ; and
ultimately the lungs and windpipe are affected. It is
often accompanied by knotty tumours of the glands
in various parts of the body, and these tumours ap-
pear to be united by extended indurated swellings
like cords : when these appear, the disease is called
\he farcy. I do not pretend to draw the distinction
between the farcy and the glanders, but the diseases-
are, I believe, allied : and whenever these symptoms-
appear, whether they belong to the one disease or
the other, the animal should be immediately re-
moved, and unless he happens to be of great value,
I should recommend him to be sent forthwith to
the knacker. It is not, however, wise to trust alto-
gether to your own judgment. Sometimes a severe
cold will produce symptoms very similar to the
glanders. Sometimes the strangles are confounded
with it : the cough, the fever, and other usual in-
cidents to a cold, will point out the difference to a
scientific man, and in the strangles the rapid sup-
puration of the glandular swellings, is a symptom

131

which is wanting in the glanders. Neither a cold
nor the strangles is a very alarming complaint ; it
would therefore be well, before you sacrifice your
horse, to assure yourself by good professional in-
formation, that your suspicions are well founded ;
but it is a wise precaution to separate the animal
from others, as soon as ever a decided discharge
from the nostrils is detected.

It has been said, and I believe with truth, that
it is a peculiarity of the glanders, always to show
itself on the near jaw. I have not had sufficient ex-
perience of the disease, to feel assured of the safety
of this diagnostic : but the idea is so prevalent,
that I do not hke to omit mentioning it. There is
another circumstance connected with the glanders,
that it is of the last importance to notice. The
human frame is susceptible of the contagion — a
point long disputed by pathologists, though why
a doubt should exist is not very obvious ; besides
the well-known case of hydrophobia, we have long
ascertained that the small-pox owes its origin to
the camel, as the cow-pox is obtained from the cow.
The question, however, is at length set at rest. A
paper from the pen of Dr. EUiotson, the President,
was read to the Medical and Chirurgical Society,
on the 12th March, 1833, (which will be found at
page 201 of the Transactions of that Society, pub-
k2

132

lished by Longman,) in which the learned author
describes the recent case of WiUiam Johnson, a
patient in St. Thomas's Hospital. The symptoms
not only corresponded with those of a glandered
horse, but, on a post mortem examination, the
appearances were similar. The sufferer had been
employed as a groom in attending a horse labour-
ing under the disease, and had frequently received
the discharge from the nostril on his hand, which
had been wounded. This fact was discovered,
after suspicion had been excited by the nature of
the symptoms. Without going at length into the
character of those symptoms, it may be interesting
to my readers to have a general account of them.
For the first week, they were febrile, attended with
pains in the right side and loins, and with delirium,
at times, to a violent degree. Before a fort-
night had elapsed, the hand and ancle became
swelled and red, and the fever greatly increased.
The skin in various parts of the body gradually
assumed the same inflamed appearance, and on the
fourteenth da}^, a discharge began to flow from the
right nostril, accompanied by a large swelling in the
middle of the forehead, of a purple colour : the left
eye was nearly closed, and swellings took place on
the arms and legs. These swellings rapidly ex-
tended over the extremities and the abdomen, and

133

the febrile symptoms became more distressing, the
pulse rising to 124 ; the discharge from the nostrils
became considerable, and bore a glutinous charac-
ter ; another purple swelling appeared on the right
side of the nose, extending all along it, and early
on the seventeenth day he sunk under the disease.
On examination, the swellings were found to be full
of pus, under which a number of small white granu-
lations were perceptible. The sinuses above the
eyes contained similar granulations, and were filled
with a jelly-like secretion. On the inner surface
of the nose, on the side of the bone dividing the
nostrils, an ulcer appeared, exactly similar to the
ulcers in the nose of a glandered horse, and the
same white granulations showed themselves in the
colon.

I have abbreviated this account from the paper
that I have mentioned, omitting or altering a few
technical expressions. The publication of the case
led to the discovery of several similar instances.
It follows, that too much precaution cannot be used
in grooming glandered horses, or even animals of
suspicious appearance. The most prudent course
would be to use gloves : the fear of a little ridicule
should never deter an honest fellow from so simple
a remedy.

134

I have now almost exhausted the list of those
disorders which are at once common in horses, and
capable, at least in their milder stages, of being
concealed from the eye of the superficial observer.
But there are still a few general remarks upon the
subject that deserve attention. If the hair of a
horse appears to be rubbed oft' here and there, es-
pecially about the head and the flanks, if he is
observed to rub himself against the sides of the
stall, or to rub one leg against the other, it is pro-
bable that he is mangy : in this case a general
roughness of the coat is discernible ; not of that
kind which marks the change of the winter coat,
but as if he had been carelessly curried. A pur-
chaser will do well to notice any peculiar marks:
as for instance, if there are grey hairs visible in
a kind of ring round the fetlock joint, or above
and below the knee, they imply the frequent and
perhaps habitual wearing of a boot, and of course
habitual cutting, or the speedy cut.

Any traces of a sore back, though apparently
healed, are very suspicious : a new saddle may
have occasioned them, as you will assuredly be
told is the fact ; but your own saddle may be
equally new to a new horse. The slightest ten-
derness of the back makes the horse unserviceable

135

for weeks and even months, and not unfrequently
causes the animal to rear or plunge, the moment
that he is mounted.

It is by no means easy to detect vice in a horse
till after several trials. Vicious horses are usually
cunning, and try their rider before they venture to
take liberties with him. It has frequently been
noticed that where the horse exhibits much of the
white of the eye, he is vicious ; and this idea is
not altogether without foundation. The white of
the ball is exposed when the eye is thrown back
to watch the approach of a stranger into the stall :
and this jealous vigilance is itself indicative of
temper. A hint may not be misplaced as to the
course to take if you find yourself, as I have done,
thus agreeably closeted with a vicious brute.
Most people immediately retreat with precipitation,
and thus place themselves at once at the horse's
heels, when the chances are three to one in favour
of a broken leg. The better course is, if you see
symptoms of a disposition to bite or strike, at once
to approach the head, and seize the halter rein
close to his nose. Few horses will attack or resist
a man that evinces determination to control them ;
and this is equally true whether you are in the
saddle or at the head. If by this means you check
the animal into temporary tranquillity, the ostler

136

will soon come to your aid, and release you by
picking up the fore foot, or some other discipline
by which he is usually restrained. It is always
prudent to distrust the safety of approaching a
horse that stands in a separate stall, or at the
farthest stall in the line ; this being the place
generally appropriated to kickers.

Crib-biting is rather a vice than a disease ; the
horse grasps the manger, and holding it with his
teeth, sucks in the air, or at least appears to do so :
the effect of this bad habit is often, but not always,
to impair the digestive powers, and render the
animal poor. As it is not usually classed as un-
soundness, the purchaser should be very careful
to watch the behaviour of the horse for a few
minutes. It is useless to examine the manger, for
a regular crib-biter would not be shown in his
accustomed stall.

The choice of a horse for harness, is in several
respects far less difficult than the selection of a
saddle horse ; yet it must be remembered that an
animal which is sold for the collar, is frequently-
parted with for a dangerous fault in harness. I
have long made it a rule never to put a horse in
my stanhope, that I had not previously tried in
the saddle. When I am on his back, I am his
master ; when at his tail, he is mine ; and there-
fore, I like to know his temper before I place
myself in his power.

Draught work is far less severe labour than
carrying weight, if the carriage is fairly adj usted
to the strength, and the roads ^re tolerable. It
follows that many blemishes which denote un-
soundness, and many actual defects, are compara-
tively immaterial. All draught work, too, is done

138

at the trot ; hence it is of little consequence whether
a horse for harness walks or gallops well. Still
there is no doubt that in proportion as the animal
is sound, and good in all his paces, his value is
greater for whichever service he is designed.

I may also remark that few people are very par-
ticular about driving a horse in a boot, or with a
blemished knee, while the blinkers will hide any
obvious defect in the eyes. Thus other serious
obstacles that occur in the purchase of a saddle
horse are removed.

Subject to these preliminary observations, I
would suggest that the form of a stanhope horse
should be carefully considered ; a full shoulder
and a well fiUed-up loin, are of consequence : the
action should be free, and rather high than other-
wise ; the body should be compact and close, the
legs short, and rotundity the character of the
whole.

Steadiness is a great virtue in a gig-horse ; for
his duty is in the streets, where every provocation
is given to the contrary, and where the least swerv-
ing from the direct line may cause infinite mischief.
It is quite impossible to decide whether a horse
deserves this character till he has been tried ; but
a single drive down Oxford Street or Holborn, will
put him sufficiently to the proof : a man who buys

139

I stanhope-horse, without first driving it himself,
s a fit subject for a commission of hmacy. It
s not enough to put him in the break ; he should
36 harnessed at once to the stanhope ; and it is
)rudent to observe closely how he bears the cere-
nony of being harnessed, and what kind of a start
le makes. Much may be predicted of his qualifi-
:ations for draught, or at all events of his familiarity
vith the collar, by the degree of quiet with which
le allows himself to be put to. If the ostler runs
ilong-side of him at setting off, as is often the case,
lOVL may be sure that the horse is distrusted : if you
iistrust yourself, have nothing to do with him.

One of the best horses which I ever had in my
ife, as a gig-horse, was a little animal scarcely
burteen hands and an inch high, w^hich I bought
)f a dealer named Thompson, an excellent judge
)f a horse for harness, and who, I believe, now pur-
chases horses for Mr. Robinson, of Little Britain.
His case was in some respects peculiar, and worth
nentioning. I bought him for a relative, of very
ight weight, but a timid rider. He was just such
I horse as I have described; about half-bred, and
ncUning in form to a cob. My relative rode him
•or about two or three months, during which time,
either he or the horse so contrived it as to fall
3very ten days; the last fall was a very serious

140

one, and the knees were much blemished. He
would not have produced ten pounds, though 1
had given nearly forty. I obtained permission tc
break him into harness, which I did myself, with-
out any trouble or difficulty. His owner would
not take him back again, but gave him to me. A
year or two afterwards I refused sixty for him. Il
is a singular fact, that, for the first two years thai
I had him, (he remained with me nearly five,) he
would allow nobody to drive him but myself. I;
other hands held the reins, he would swerve anc
shy, and at last perhaps fairly bolt ; but in mine
he never committed a fault. I used to drive hin
with a sharp curb, and very little whip; but mj
command of him was so complete, that I have
urged him to his full speed, thrown the reins or
his back, and stopped him in an instant by mv
voice ! The inference which I would draw is, thai
a purchaser should always try a new stanhope
horse for himself, and not trust to the steadiness
evinced while the reins are in his owner's hands.

I cannot dismiss my little horse without men-
tioning another incident connected with him, tc
me particularly interesting. Like most Cantabs, 1
acquired at college an unlucky taste for driving. I
have driven my tandem for many thousand miles
in safety, and used at times to exhibit, at once my

141

folly and my skill, by threading the narrowest or
Host crowded streets in London. It is scarcely
lecessary to add, that eventually I broke my head;
hough in j ustice to my skill, I must declare that
he fault was not mine, but my coachmaker's. The
>plinter-bar had been morticed into the shaft, at
he very point where the latter was rendered un-
sound by a knot in the wood. One day, after a
ong journey into the country, and within a hun-
Ired yards of my own door, the shaft broke, and I
vas precipitated over the shaft-horse, under the
:ieels of my old favourite. There I lay, insensible.
The awkward hands who came to render assistance,
vanted (as I was afterwards informed by my ser-
vant) to move the horse away from me, at the risk
)f putting his heels upon my face ; but move he
vould not; nor would he allow a foot to be raised,
ill at last I was fairly lifted up from under him,
md then, though not till then, he readily changed
lis position, and moved wherever they pleased to
ead him. I have no inference to draw from this,
ixcept a caution even to the most experienced
vhips against tandems ! I mention it as a tribute
j)f gratitude to my poor horse, who showed at
east as much sense as his master. Young gen-
lemen, hov/ever, who disregard my caution, as
loubtless nineteen out of twenty will, may thank

142

me for a hint of which I have experienced th(
advantage. Tandems are rarely seen now ; bu
those who still drive a leader, generally attach hij
traces to an eye in the traces of the shaft-horse
this looks better, but is not so safe as the old
fashioned way of hooking them to the end of th(
shaft. By the first plan, the stumbling of tin
shaft-horse is aggravated into a decided fall, fo
the animal is actually pulled down by the continue!
motion of the leader; by the old plan, the shaft
horse is allowed time to recover a casual trip, aiK
is even assisted ; the weight of the carriage beini
relieved by the shafts being retained by the leader'
traces in a horizontal position. The greatest dan
ger in tandem-driving arises from the stumbling c
the shaft-horse ; it therefore follows that if eithe
of the team is distrusted in his feet or legs, h
should be driven leader.

I have had two deals with Thompson since
wrote the preceding remarks. One of them ha
proved a very good horse ; the other has been ai
unlucky purchase. I bought him with a warrant;
of soundness, and I detected no unsoundness fo
nearly five weeks after my purchase, though I ex
pressed a doubt at the time whether his feet wer
right. He has proved lame from inflammation o
the navicular joint. He is so unexceptionable ii

143

other respects, that I have kept hmi, in the hope
of curmg the disease by a winter's run in the wet
marshes, but I am far from sanguine as to his
recovery. It is a complaint that admits of rehef,
but is seldom cured.

No man, if he can help it, will ever buy a mare
or harness : no dependence whatever can be placed
ipon them : they may be temperate and steady for
nonths, or even years, and yet when the season
u'rives, will kick your chaise to pieces. I drove a
, ittle mare for nearly a year with the galloway that
|[ have just been mentioning ; the following spring
•he kicked herself out of harness three times in the
course of as many weeks ! Purchasers are often
empted by their inferior price ; a mare, cccteris
mrihusj being generally five or ten pounds less va-
uable than a gelding ; but they forget that it is
his very capriciousness of character that reduces
heir value, because it unfits them for the collar.

It can scarcely be necessary to remind a pur-
haser that any scar on the shoulders, or even
inder the tail, should lead to a suspicion of ten-
erness in those parts, not very consistent with
sngth of service in harness ; and in the same way
hat a blemished hock should excite a doubt whe-
her the splinter bar is not equally damaged. If
: can be managed, it would be prudent to see
horse driven in his master's stanhope, were it

144

only to take the opportunity of observing whether
the dashing iron or the floor retains marks of the
shoe, or has been recently repaired in order to
efface them.

I once was trying, a stanhope horse, in company
with his owner, but not in his owner's chaise : I
had no suspicions, for I was to receive a warranty
of ''sound and safe in harness," but he appeared
to me to show a great deal of work ; and there-
fore, I wished to see the stanhope that he had
been accustomed to draw. " It was at the coach-
maker's." I offered to go there, and proposed
that we should drive to the shop. " It was a long
way off, on the other side of the water." I re-
plied, that my time was of no consequence ; for,
whenever I perceive hesitation, I always feel dis-
trust. '' It was taken to pieces to be fresh painted."
In short, I found that the chaise was not to be
seen ; and therefore, see it I would. When we
returned to the stables, I took an opportunity of
saying privately to the ostler, that I thought the
horse had been over-weighted, and I wished to
compare his owner's stanhope with mine. " When
would it be at home again?" He could not tell,
but at once referred me to the coachmaker's : this
was all I wanted. I proceeded there without
delay, and anticipated his customer by only ten
minutes : this was enough however, to apprise

145

myself by ocular inspection, that the dashing iron

had been kicked away, only the week before, by

the horse warranted "safe in harness I" About a

month after, not having yet found what I wanted,

I read an advertisement in the paper, of "a horse,

" stanhope, and harness, to be sold together. The

" stanhope almost new, and very recently from the

" coachmaker's shop : the horse possessing the

" grandest action imaginable, and making alto*

*' gether, the most elegant turn-out in London ;

" bona fide the property of a gentleman that might

" be referred to." I went to the place, and at once

recognized my old acquaintance, whose action, a

posteriori at least, had been as "grand" as could

reasonably be desired ; and as for the stanhope,

the most practised eye in Long Acre could scarcely

have discovered the true cause of its having so

recently quitted the coachmaker's loft ! Another

striking specimen of gentility in horse-dealing

transactions !

If my reader has by this time mounted himself
to his satisfaction, he will be dismayed to learn,
that he has yet much to do in the way of precau-
tion, before he can hug himself in his purchase.

A friendly critic in the Old Sporting Magazine
has humorously compared me to Accum, the cele-
brated chemist, of " death-in-the-pot" reputation.
I will take this opportunity of setting myself right
in this matter. I have never said that a sound
horse is unattainable in the market ; but merely
that animals of this description do not often find
their way into it. My object has been to enable
the inexperienced to form some judgment for them-
selves upon the merits of such horses as they are
most likely to find there, and especially to guard
them against the common error of allowing their
j udgment to be warped by the amount of the price
demanded. In prosecuting this object, it has been

147

necessary to explain all the artifices to which
knavish dealers have recourse ; not that any indi-
vidual will find himself exposed to all these tricks,
but he must learn them all, to guard against
being victimized by any one of them ; and though
it is almost absurd to repeat the cases which
every day's police report presents to our eyes, yet
if the tricks of horse chaunters were generally
known and understood, we should not find such
frequent sufferers by their frauds. Some of these
tricks I have already mentioned ; but there is one
which, however common its occurrence, cannot be
too often described.

" Timid old gentlemen," or dandy young ones,
are the legitimate prey of all horse chaunters.

^^A neat little cob, equal to any weight, that
never stumbles nor shies," meets the eye of some
" timid old gentleman," and "a liberal trial" being
allowed, he purchases. This is all very well ; but
how is the trial to be made with security to all
parties ? The advertiser is at no loss. The price
asked is forty guineas ; ^' the gentleman may de-
posit half the price, and ride the horse where he
pleases." Such a proposal seems fair enough in
all conscience ; the parties are alike strangers to
each other; the buyer indeed, is the most open
to suspicion of the two, for the seller has the

148

prima facie evidence of respectability, that he is
the occupier of a stable, and the owner of a
horse ! The "timid old gentleman" feels that the
reason of the thing is against him. The deposit is
onli/ half the value ; he pays the twenty guineas,
and rides away with all possible assurances and
good wishes.

In ten minutes he discovers his purchase to
be "a roarer." What then? "Timid old gen-
tlemen" are neither dandies nor highfliers, and
asthmatic infirmities are surely entitled to the
indulgent sympathy of age. In ten minutes
more the " neat little cob" blunders against a
scavenger's night cart, and swerving away to

avoid being run over, is taken in flank by the pole
of an omnibus : this is very disagreeable, to be
sure ; but what "little horse" in Eno;land can make

149

his way through a phalanx of London carriages ?
besides, "old gentlemen" do not habitually travel
the crowded streets on horseback; so the purchaser
is not discouraged. Before his half hour is com-
pleted however, this sure-footed beast, that " it is
impossible" to make stumble, breaks down in the
softest quagmire he can find of metropolitan slush
and filth, and spills the " timid old gentleman" in
the kennel ! Human patience cannot stand this.
John is immediately dispatched with the unlucky
Rosinante to his owner, and desired to leave the
horse and bring back the money. The first is
easily done; the horse is left, and readily received
by the expecting ostler : but " master is gone to
dinner, and will not be back for two or three
hours.^' When that interval has elapsed, John
returns ; but finds neither horse, nor master, nor
groom : the stable is empty ; the neighbours know
nothing of the tenants, and the swindlers have
safely decamped wdth their "neat little cob," and
the " old gentleman's" twenty guineas into the
bargain ! ! !

Scarcely a week passes, that this stale and
shallow trick is not successfully repeated ; for the
rascals know very w^ell, that even if they were
traced to the next door of their dupe, he would
hesitate, after the first flush of vexation was over,

150

at encountering all the trouble and expense of a
prosecution ; nor would it perhaps be easy to
establish the legal criminality of their conduct ; a
timid magistrate, or an indulgent jury, would
reduce it to a mere debt of twenty guineas, or call
it a "debt of honour !" When you have chosen
your horse, before you part with a farthing of the
price, learn something of the seller: if this is diffi-
cult, remember that it is just as easy to send his
horse to your stables, as for you to try it from his.
If this is declined, walk away as fast as your legs
can carry you. You are in a dangerous position,
after once confessing to a chaunter that you like
his horse. Canning's eloquence was a hundred
degrees less persuasive, than the wily speeches of
an ostler under such auspicious circumstances.

I strongly recommend the horse to be taken
away in the seller's saddle and bridle : a demur is
often made to the inconvenience, but explain the
reason, and no respectable dealer will object to the
loan. To buy a new saddle for an untried horse,
is throwing away money ; and though saddle-trees
are now usually made in a form to suit most horses
of the average size, it is not improbable that the
back would be galled by a long ride in a saddle
out of your own harness-room. Should this hap-
pen, any dealer is fairly entitled to refuse the

I

151

horse, if returned, unless upon full compensation ;
for he is alike unfit for sale or use, till the wound
is healed, and I have already noticed that this is
not the work of a day.

It is prudent to examine with attention the
terms in which the warranty is expressed. I have
often known instances in which, either from acci-
dent or design, the guarantee of soundness has
been so carelessly worded, as to leave no remedy
to the purchaser ; and in other cases, the warranty
has been signed by an agent, whose authority to
give it has been afterwards denied : thus substi-
tuting a right of action for deceit against a man of
straw, for a good remedy against a solvent seller. '

Another precaution, rarely taken, but of great
importance, is to send a servant to fetch the horse:
the purchaser generally rides him away himself, if
he can borrow a saddle. Should an accident occur
on the journey home, he has no witness to prove
the cause of it, and a squabble of course arises.
He is challenged with careless riding — he cannot
disprove the charge, and the remedy on the
warranty is involved in the always complicated
question, " Who is in fault ? For the same reason
it is prudent for the first week, if possible, always
to ride him in company ; or, at all events, to make
the groom carefully note down the length of

152

every ride, and the condition in which the horse
is brought home. Every sin that the animal can
commit is thrown upon the rider's back, whenever
a horse is returned to a dealer on his warranty.
Inquiry should always be made of the seller, how
he has been accustomed to diet and clothe his
horse ; whether his feet are stopped at night, and
how frequently ; and whatever reply he gives
should be carefully noted, and the same treatment
observed, till his soundness is ascertained beyond
dispute. These points seem trivial and super-
fluous. The moment, however, the buyer consults
his attorney, he will cross-examine him on every
item, and then their practical importance in re-
ference to the warranty is ascertained, though,
generally, too late ! It is desirable, before money
is paid, to put some general questions as to the
history of the horse — not so much to ascertain that
he is not stolen property, though even that suspi-
cion is not always to be laid aside, but to secure
the means of tracing any disease that may show
itself in the buyer's stables. It is a strange fact,
but not less true than strange, if dealers are to be
credited, that no horse is ever ill before he is
transferred by sale ! The, first appearance of every
disorder with which veterinarians are familiar, is the
second or third day after the animal is comfortably

153

housed in a new stable. Now, after making the
most liberal allowances for change of domicile, I
cannot understand this horse-dealing system of
pathology; and so far am I from being convinced
of its being sound in principle, that I have always
provided myself with the means of following up my
horse's history. Sometimes I have discovered that
even in this trifling matter, the inveterate habit of
lying has betrayed itself. But deception here is of
Httle moment : it tells as well with a jury, that the
previous history of the animal has been studiously
concealed, as if the last year of his existence had
been spent at the college ; and this is all that is
wanted. I may also observe that actual deception
on any material point, invalidates a contract alto-
gether. Thus to sell a horse that has lost the
mark, under a false representation of his age, or
to sell a second-hand carriage, as one that has
just left the coach-maker's loft, is fraudulent, and
no action can be maintained for the price; or
should the price have been paid, it may be re-
covered back. Dealers ought to be better aware
of this principle of law, than for the most part
they appear to be. No legal contract can he
founded upon frauds and wilful deception amounts
in law to fraud. The maxim of Caveat emptor ^
which I have chosen for my title, cannot safely be

154

pushed too far ; but on these and similar points I
will refer my reader to the subsequent pages for
more satisfactory explanation. Much of the trouble
and vexation which are occasioned by the tricks
which I have described in this and my earlier
chapters, will be saved by purchasing through
the Horse and Carriage Registry, as it affords a
purchaser security that he will be dealing with
parties whose real addresses have been given, and
whose characters are probably known at the office.
No man would pay five shillings to enter his horse
with a false address, as in that case he could not
possibly hear of a customer, and would be use-
lessly throwing away his money. The horses of a
man well known to be a regular chaunter, will of
course not be registered at all, for any price ; for
this would endanger the success of the Registry
itself, by diminishing the confidence of pur-
chasers. I consider this one of the most useful
ends to be gained by this new establishment.

I HAVE written to little purpose, if my reader
should ever require advice to guide him in refer-
ence to his warranty; but my work would be
incomplete without it, and with it he may save
himself many a six-and-eightpence, if he is after
all so unfortunate as to be taken in.

Every man I believe is pleased with a new horse
for the first four-and-twenty hours, on the same
principle that every child is pleased with a new
toy : and like the child who throws away the toy
the moment it fails to answer expectation, the
buyer believes his purchase to be worthless, the
instant he detects a fault. This is a serious mis-
take. There is not one horse in a hundred that is
in every sense sound. There is an important dis-
tinction between soundness, in its legal sense, and
in its popular acceptation. A lawyer will tell you

156

that every horse is sound that is not diseased, or
menaced with disease, to a degree that incapa-
citates him for fair and serviceable exertion in that
labour for which he is sold. A veterinary sur-
geon will declare a horse unsound, that has any
symptoms of past, present, or future infirmity.
A dealer, or his ostler, will vouch for the sound-
ness of every animal that can place one foot before
the other, or manage to stand upon all four.
Between these high authorities, especially if his
attorney has an eye to costs rather than character,
the unlucky purchaser is bewildered, and like all
men in that predicament, commits one blunder
that leads to a second, till he is lost in a labyrinth
of squabbling, litigation, and expense: consohng
himself eventually with the comfortable conviction
that all lawyers, farriers, and dealers, are rogues
alike ; beleaguered together to swindle him out
of his money, and make dupes of honest men !
The proportion of knaves among them is large
certainly: but very little reflection will satisfy a
reasonable man, that in most cases he can only
have himself to blame.

My first advice is not to be too prompt in re-
turning a defective horse. Shght faults, or even
doubtful indications of disease, should not be con-
clusive. No horse is without a fault of some kind,

157

and yet there are not many that absolutely inca-
pacitate him for work. A horse may refuse to
canter, and yet be pleasant and speedy in his
trot ; he may even blunder with a new and inex-
perienced rider, and ultimately prove sure-footed
when better accustomed to the hand. Many will
swerve and shy when they find themselves un-
! steadily mounted, and afterwards prove perfectly
docile. Some animals of dehcate stomachs, or
.moody tempers, will refuse their corn when they
!come into a strange stable ; others will be sullen
iwhen introduced to a new face, or unmanageable
^vhen groomed by an unwonted hand : all these
,ire temporary inconveniences, and far from conclu-
sive against the value or usefulness of the horse.

Many timid riders take alarm at the frohcs of
jtheir horse when first mounted ; forgetting that in
ill probability he has been fed up into high con-
dition for sale, and had no work for a month past,
beyond his daily exercise. It is not a fortnight
since I mounted a mare that almost kicked down
:he stable door as soon as I crossed her. She
carried me very quietly for an hour afterwards, and
[ was more disposed to complain of a want of
;?pirit, than an excess of it.

j Should it, however, be too apparent that the
burchase is substantially vicious or unsound, it

158

should be returned without delay, but not without
due caution.^ An immediate return is not neces-
sary in point of law, but it is certainly imprudent
needlessly to retain an unsound horse even for a
day. The two leading authorities on unsoundness
are Mr. Sewell and Mr. Field; and before the
animal is sent back, both these gentlemen should be
consulted. Their opinions will only cost a guinea,
and this sum is well expended to assure oneself of
scientific judgment. If they differ in opinion, it will
not be safe to enforce the warranty : that they do
sometimes differ, I have had recent proof A dis-
tinguished member of parliament lately offered
me for sale a beautiful mare, bred by himself He
was unwilling to warrant her, and without a war-
ranty I would not buy. He proposed that she
should be examined at the college, and with this
I was willing to take her. She was at once pro-
\ nounced lame, and on catechising the groom that
brought her, it turned out that she had hurt her
hock on being tried in harness. Mr. Sewell was
of opinion that unless boxed up for the summer

* The reader must not infer from this passage that he is en-
titled as a matter of course to return a horse for a breach of
warranty. I ag-ain refer him to the subsequent pages for a full
explanation of the law on the subject of "return."

159

, ith a high-heeled shoe, her lameness would be-
ome permanent and incurable. Of course I re-
acted her. A few days after, the ostler at the
tables where she was occasionally put up, informed
le that her owner, not satisfied with Mr. Sewell's
pinion, though borne out by the accident, had
insulted Mr. Field within an hour after she had
;ft the college; Mr. Field passed her as one of
le soundest horses that he had ever examined !*'
It is indispensable to consult the veterinarian
?fore the horse is returned, for no opportunity
ill be given of doing so afterwards. Nine times
it of ten, the dealer will receive him, but will not
■fund the money : so far from it, that he will send
Du notice that the horse is standing at your ex-
cuse, and you will shortly receive a lieavy bill for
s keep, unless he good-naturedly ofiers to sell
m for you again at half the price you gave
m !

I If unsound, Mr. Sewell will give a certificate of

e fact, and also of the seat of the disease. Of

is certificate it is expedient to keep an examined

'py, and then send the original to the dealer.

" ^Ir. Field has since assured me, that though he passed the
re, he did not pronounce his opinion in these unqualified terms ;

■'1 in justice to him, I feel it right to correct the text : he con-

f ered her, however, to he free from lameness.

160

The servant who received it from Mr. Sewell, should
be the person to examine and mark the copy, and
also to deliver the original, or at least to produce
it to the dealer ; as it will be necessary on the trial
of the action, to have his evidence to show fair
play and open dealing to the satisfaction of the
jury. Nothing tells more with a jury than candid,
open behaviour, especially in actions upon horse-
warranties.

I have already intimated the importance ol
tracing the past history of the horse, to ascertair
whether the unsoundness is of old standing. Ii
will often be found, when this can be done, that thf
dealer himself bought without a warranty. Indeec
the question should always be put to him whethe
he did or not. His refusal to answer it, or to pro
duce the warranty, will tell as much against him a:
the admission that he took none ; but then h(
should be interrogated by a third party, who can i
necessary be put in the witness-box.

The next material point is to make a chrono
logical memorandum of every occurrence, botl:
in the purchase, and subsequent treatment, anc
let the groom subscribe his name to it. A case is
clear enough in the month of March, but if th(
cause is not tried till July, half the circumstance;
are forgotten. The most trivial inaccuracy is fata

1

161

in a horse cause : nothing should be omitted ; his
diet, his exercise, his grooming, every thing that
can prove due attention to have been paid to him,
should be carefully noted down, while all is recent
and memory awake. It is useful to make the
servant sign it, for I have known instances where
the man has been discharged in the interim, and
produced afterwards as a witness for the dealer^
and a most useful witness, too. Half a guinea
will do wonders in making a good witness of a
discarded servant.

In all questions arising upon a warranty this
principle must be borne in mind ; the horse must
be returned in the same state and condition in
which he was received, except so far as the disease
for which he is returned may have deteriorated
him ; as for instance, if the knees are broken by a
fall, and the fall was occasioned by chronic lame-
ness, the blemish is no bar to his return: but
except in cases ejusdem generis, any injury to a
horse while in the purchaser's possession deprives
him pro tanto of his remedy. This is my reason for
giving such minute directions for the treatment of
the animal, while his soundness remains doubtful.

It often happens that a wary dealer will play off
an artful game with a dissatisfied customer. Allow

162

him five guineas, and he will take the horse back;
or he "will exchange him with pleasure." I
should generally close with the first alternative,
for extra costs will always exceed five guineas ; but
the second is a desperate resource : the exchange
will to a certainty be an inferior animal, and in less
than a week he must be returned again, and all
the battle is to be fought once more. By the time
he has tried every horse in the stables, the pur-
chaser will have broken half a dozen ribs, be minus
his time and money into the bargain, and find that
his own legs must carry him through the summer.
It should always be the subject of anxious
inquiry, ere a hostile step is taken, whether the
dealer is worth powder and shot. Very few of
them, taking them as a body, are in solvent cir-
cumstances ; and then a verdict will prove an empty
triumph indeed. This inquiry is easily made among
the parochial officers : they will always say (on
assigning a fair reason for the question) whether a
man pays his rates and taxes punctually ; or they
will refer to his landlord, who is always well dis-
posed to complain of an irregular tenant. But a
man should make these inquiries for himself: they
will swell a solicitor's bill largely if left entirely to
him.

163

Should the result be unfavourable, there is but
one resource — send the horse to the hammer to
take his chance, and set down the loss, as I have
too often done, to the debit of experience ! On
the next occasion you will be wise enough to con-
sult a veterinary surgeon before you make your
purchase !

M z

If my reader has, to his surprise, as it certainly
would be to mine, struggled successfully through
all the risk and difficulties explained in the pre-
ceding pages, and at length mounted himself to
his entire satisfaction, he cannot but be anxious to
know how he is to treat the valuable animal which
it has cost him so much trouble to procure. Eco-
nomy is so much involved in this question, that
my advice can only be given subject to the control
of every man's peculiar circumstances.

A man who keeps only one saddle-horse for his
pleasure^ and is domiciled in London, cannot do
better than send him to livery : he will find it
quite as economical as keeping him in his own
stable, and far more convenient. The usual charge
is a guinea per week, where the standing is of
long duration ; and very little personal attention

165

will secure liberal treatment. If however he Is^eeps
two horses, he will undoubtedly find that he can
maintain them both for less than three-fourths of
the charge of sending them to livery, provided that
he has stabling attached to his house. In many
cases, however, the question of economy does not
occur ; and though gentlemen who keep their studs
systematically, are not likely to be among my
readers, yet if perchance these pages should meet
their eyes, they may find some useful hints as to
that very important, though neglected point, the
construction of their stables.

A horse, in his educated state, is by no means a
hardy animal. Many, perhaps most of his nume-
rous diseases, spring from a neglect of those pre-
cautions which are required by the artificial cha-
racter of his life : the abridgment of his active
days is alone sufficient proof of this. Many horses
live to twenty or five-and-twenty, but not one in a
hundred is fit for real labour after thirteen. That
this arises partly from their being prematurely
brought to work, is certainly true ; but it is equally
true that this premature exertion is as injurious
indirectly as it is directly. To prepare them for
it, they are brought into close and heated stables
before their constitution has attained its maturity,
and, like children reared by anxious parents, warm

166

atmospheres, pampered appetites, and close con-
tinement, cause premature debility and early decay.

It is impossible now to change the system :
horses are too expensive to maintain, to allow the
breeder to keep them out of the market, when
once they can yield a profitable return ; and there-
fore every horse is trained to work before he is five.
The only remedy is, in their subsequent manage-
ment, to avoid errors that may render them yet
more delicate, and on the other hand to guard
against any carelessness that is only innoxious to
hardy constitutions.

Almost all stables are found so built as to be
liable to the extreme either of warmth or cold. In
the country, the last is the common error ; but in
London, and all large towns, the mistake is on the
other side. The great value of building- ground in
towns makes it unavoidable ; but where there is
sufficient space, it is unintelligible why so little
attention is shown to the construction of the
stabUng. Almost every country stable opens di-
rectly to the weather, so that in all seasons there
is a constant current of cold air poured in plenti'
fully upon the cattle, whatever may be their state.
I have noticed this fault in some of the best hunt-
ing stables, yet the remedy is simple and obvious :
the harness-room should be built off, at the entrance

167

of the stable, with a passage through it : ventila-
tion might easily be secured by gratings above the
windows.

The same ill-judged economy of space leads to
another fault, equally mischievous. The loft is gene-
rally used as the most convenient place for the hay
cut for immediate supply; and to make it more
roomy, the ceiUng of the stable is very low. Thus
ventilation is required to an unusual degree, while
the proper place to receive the ventilator is choked
up. Even the accumulation of dirt and dust,
constantly falling upon the horse, is, though a
minor evil, one of no small magnitude, and quite
sufficient to point out the expediency of a differ-
ent arrangement, where circumstances permit. A
stable should be as large and airy as convenience
will allow : it should also be perfectly dry, and
capable of being kept at a regular and moderate
temperature. The effluvia of the litter and manure
are very great, and very injurious to the health of
the horse ; but no care of the groom can entirely
prevent it, especially during the night, if the stable
is low and confined. It is well worth the while of
any gentleman who is about to build, to inspect
the stables at the Veterinary College : he will at
once remark their lofty height as compared with
others, and the ample size of the stalls, and the

168

wide space between the stalls and the opposite
wall. Even the construction of the stalls is a
matter of importance : the drain should be in the
centre, and the paving should be as level as is
consistent with the drainage. As stables are
usually paved, almost every horse stands wuth his
fore feet in an unnatural position, almost resting
on his toes : the pain of this, especially to a tired
horse, must be considerable ; and it is very proba-
ble that permanent injury is often occasioned by
it, both to the foot and the joint.

Due attention should be given to the admission
of sufficient light : the eye is seriously affected by
sudden change from darkness to light. Every
body has heard the story of the Bastile prisoner,
struck permanently blind by sudden restoration to
the light of day ; for every body has heard some
juvenile platform orator, when asserting the natural
right to liberty, entangle himself in this unlucky
illustration, till he has locked himself up too
close in the Bastile to find his way out again !
but every body does not know, that after the
operation for the cataract, the great anxiety of the
surgeon is to exclude the light : the patient being
kept in a dark room for a week or two. It is
precisely on the same principle of abrupt change
being mischievous to the eye, that I condemn the

169

practice of leaving a stable in partial darkness. I
have frequently seen horses brought out of a place
as dark as a coal-hole, into the sudden glare of the
sun, and give visible indications of the pain and in-
convenience of the abrupt transition. Some of the
stables at the Swan wdth Two Necks, Lad Lane, are
under ground, and I have occasionally watched
the poor animals led out into the street on a fine
iday, when they have for the first few minutes
been so dazzled as to run against the pole of a
coach : nothing is more likely to occasion chronic
inflammation of the eye. It is also difficult, if not
impracticable, to keep a stable clean, when the
light is so sparingly admitted ; at all events it can-
not be seen whether this duty is discharged ; and
I know from long experience, that the class of
people usually employed as ostlers and helpers,
are, of all servants, those who require the most
vigilant surveillance on the subject of clean-
liness.

These remarks are however only partially useful
to the individual who keeps a single horse, or only
a pair for occasional use. He must take his stable
as he finds it ; but even in his case much may be
done by personal attention, to keep it in an airy,
dry, and comfortable state. His first duty should
be to insist rigorously on cleanliness. Whenever

170

he enters he should notice whether every thmg is
in its proper place ; he should allow of no manure
being piled up in corners ; no dark receptacles for
old brushes, pots of oil and pots of porter; no bro-
ken halters here, and disabled pitchforks there. If
the smell is pungent and offensive, severe reproof
should follow; for it is clear that the manure has
been allowed to accumulate, though, in expectation
perhaps of his periodical inspection, the floor ap-
pears clean and tidy. When the horse is absent
at his work, the groom should be required to make
a thorough lustration; and where the absence is
expected to exceed the night, the opportunity
should be taken of washing out every part with
water, and scouring the rack and manger with a
scouring brush. These precautions, and opening
the windows regularly when the place is empty,
will materially tend to keep even the smallest box
in a healthy state. It is very important, however,
not to let a stable become damp ; and this incon-
venience is more easily avoided than people com-
monly suppose. Hunting or training stables should
of course be so constructed as to allow of being
warmed by flues, or pipes of steam : but where these
expensive resources are wanting, it is easy to keep
a lamp or candle constantly burning (always in a
wire lantern suspended from the ceiling), and this

171

vill dry almost any stable in four-and-twenty
lours. This precaution in a harness-room will
)ften keep harness from inj ury for years.

The economy as well as the cleanliness of a
;table is much promoted by due attention to the
itter. Idle grooms will frequently allow the litter
,0 remain from one end of the week to the other,
i;prinkling over it a handful of clean straw for the
oed at night, or (to keep up appearances) during
he day. Nothing is more injurious to the horse's
bet than thus constantly standing upon a hot-bed,
j[t makes the hoof brittle, dries up the sole and
jlestroys its elasticity, cankers the frog, and im-
pedes the perspiration of the legs : it is also a
common cause of grease and swelled legs. If, on
lie other hand, the dung is regularly removed, and
:he dry and clean straw carefully separated every
norning, and placed under the manger till wanted,
;he stable is free from unpleasant smells, and
ibout half the quantity of clean straw will be
consumed. The quantity of straw allowed in
cavalry barracks is very small, compared with
;he average consumption in private stables ; and
fet it is uncommon to find the litters dirty, or
;he stables unwholesome. Grooms are very
ealous of reproof upon these points ; but I have
,bund that systematic disciphne, good-liumouredly

172

enforced at the commencement, will ultimately
maintain itself without much subsequent trouble :
in fact, when once accustomed to this order and
cleanliness, the men feel the comfort of it, and
continue it for their own sakes, if not for the
horse's.

The first duty of every morning is, of course, to
dress the horse : unless it rains, this process should
never be allowed in the stable. The horse should
always be led out into the yard : a horse can never
be properly cleaned in his stall ; the dust settles
upon him again, and dirties the stable, the harness,
and every thing else. Independently of this, it
tends to make a horse vicious in his stall. Fewi
horses that are possessed of much spirit, like a pro-
per dressing ; they generally plunge a little while
undergoing the operation, and in the confined space
of the stall they may seriously injure themselves,
even if the groom is dexterous enough to escape.
It also makes them restless and suspicious of
approach in the stable, and it is undoubtedly the )
first cause of crib-biting. If a horse appears to
suffer very considerably under the curry-comb, it
should be examined, to see if the teeth are not too
sharp, and of course, if found to be so, they should
be filed down, or an old comb substituted. Some
horses are more tender in their skin than others ;

173

this IS soon perceived, if they will not submit even
to an old worn-out comb ; in this case the patent
brush, with uneven bristles, should only be used,
Nothins: contributes so much to the comfort and
health of a horse as regular and thorough groom-
ing. I believe that they are very liable to be
infested with a species of lice; but whether this
is so or not, the beneficial effect of good rubbing
down is soon visible in the general vivacity and ap-
pearance of the horse. Grooms are naturally averse
to more of this trouble than they can avoid ; but,
without standing over them, it is easy to discover
if they have done their duty, by drawing the hand,
pr a white handkerchief, over the horse's back ;
if a quantity of dust is Tound, it should be a matter
3f severe rebuke. An essential part of grooming
is to rub down the legs, especially the back
sinews, with the hands. You may at once detect
m idle or inexperienced groom by the way in
>vhich he sets about this part of his business ; he
.vill stoop down, or at most kneel on one knee,
md pass the hand half a score of times over each
eg, and then rise in stupid admiration of his own
ndustry ! An old hand, on the contrary, fairly
-eats himself on the litter, and sets about it in
.;50od earnest, as a very laborious, but at the same
'ime very important operation ; nor will he leave

174

a leg till he has devoted at least ten minutes to its
service.

I never fully appreciated the importance of
hand-rubbing to the legs, till I happened one day
to be conversing with a man who had been sent
out to India, in charge of some valuable horses.
I asked him how he contrived to give them exer-
cise on board, or what substitute he found for it
He informed me that he had a helper for every
three horses. The animals were partially suspendec ,
in slings all the voyage, so as to remove as mud
weight as possible from the limbs; and in this I
position, it was the principal duty of the helpers td
rub down the legs of each horse with the hand, fo:i
two hours every day. He added that the elfeci
of this treatment was such, that they arrived witl !
legs as clean as if they had enjoyed daily exercise!
and were fit for work within ten days of thai'
arrival. A good hand-rubber cannot be essentiall;
a bad groom.

Whenever it is necessary to wash a horse's legs
it is best to do it in the morning. Most groom:
act on a different principle, and wash them th
moment they come in. I am satisfied that this is
bad practice. When the roads are very dirty, an*
the weather very wet, the legs being thorough!
soaked already, a washing can do no more harm

175

but to deluge the legs with water, the moment a
horse enters the yard, heated with exercise, is to
my mind as unnatural and absurd, as to jump
into a shower bath, after playing an hour at cricket.
I( one could be assured that the legs were care-
fully rubbed afterwards till dry, so as not to leave
a drop of moisture behind, though I should still
think the habit injurious, it would be less objec-
|tionable ; but the hour of the day when the horse
returns, is usually that at which the groom begins
to feel fatigue, and therefore it is unreasonable to
Calculate upon this extraordinary labour ; and even
if it were given, three legs must remain wet while
ipne is rubbed dry ; the rapid evaporation would
make them cold and chilly, and effectually destroy
the animal's comfort for the next six hours. My
plan is to have the legs carefully rubbed down with
straw, and then brushed with a dry brush, to re-
move as much dirt as possible; after this, a good
hand- rubbing should follow, and the next morning,
when the horse is cool, they may be washed as
clean as soap and water can make them. The
feet, however, should be carefully picked out, and
the soles washed immediately a horse leaves the
.road. A blockhead once left my horse standing
iwith a stone in his shoe all night, and the next
morning came with a long face to tell me that the

176

animal was lame ! but he never mentioned the
cause, nor should I have discovered it, had not
the same stupidity left the stone and the picker
lying in the litter.

The clothing of the horse must depend upon
habit ; if he has always been accustomed to heavy
cloths, they must be continued ; but my own
practice has been, to Hmit them to a light rug,
except in the severity of winter, and then I allow
them two. It is customary, when a horse comes
in, to cover him with his cloth long before he is
cool. I do not condemn this habit if the roller is
not put on ; if it is, the horse will not be cool for
some hours. It is scarcely to be expected that a
groom will go on with the dressing till the hair is
perfectly dry ; and especially if the coat is very
thick. It is a work of at least two hours to rub a
horse dry after a long sweat. After half an hour
of fair rubbing, let the cloths be put on ; in a very
short time the horse will " break out" again, and
then he should receive a second rubbing ; he may
after this be covered with a different cloth, (the
first will have become damp,) and may be left to
himself with safety. A custom of clipping horses
has sprung up within the last five years. It cer-
tainly appears, at first sight, a barbarous system,
thus to deprive a horse of the warm covering that

177

nature has given him, and it was long before I
was reconciled to it ; but I must acknowledge that
•I have found it beneficial, so far as my experience
has gone. The animal becomes rapidly dry after
a quarter of an hour's dressing, and will begin to
feed immediately ; while the undipped horse, even
with the best grooming, will sometimes remain wet
for the whole night, and feed with comparative
reluctance. The best proof of its utility is, that
most horses are improved in condition by it. It
must not be forgotten that the whole life and state
of the animal are essentially changed from their
natural order ; and therefore, a treatment which
may appear very contrary to the provisions of
nature, may nevertheless, be suited to his artificial
existence. When a horse is first turned out to
grass, he will gallop about the field for a long time
together, and will appear to take violent exercise ,•
but on close observation it will be found that he
never indulges in his gambols till he sweats. His
coat is always dry, and of course contributes to
warmth ; when, how^ever, he is at work, a profuse
perspiration is generally brought on ,• more or less,
certainly, in proportion to the vigour or debility of
the animal ; but still he always sweats. Let it be
borne in mind how evaporation conduces to cold :
a fact easily proved by anybody who will pass a

178

f

wet towel over his own face, and then stand at an
open window. This easy experiment will enable
him to judge of the chilly and micomfortable feel-
ing of a horse standing, perhaps in a draught of air,
while his hide is thoroughly wet from perspiration.
Great care should of course be taken, in the
clothing of a clipped horse. It is a very judicious
practice, to bandage the legs in flannel rollers,
especially after severe work. They should be ap-
plied with an even, and rather tight pressure to the
limb, from the pastern to the knee.

The daily exercise is a point to which the owner's
attention should be constantly directed. Where
the horse's stated labour is sufficient, so much the
better ; but if the work is irregular, a horse ought
never to have less than a fair hour of moderate
exercise every morning. No horse will thrive
without it. There is no necessity for sweating
him, unless he is wanted for the field : but still he
should be put through all his paces. The effect
of exercise is not merely to prevent swelled legs
and tender feet, but to ensure his ability to work
when required. A man may judge of this by his
ow^n experience. If he is fond of shooting, he
must have often found that for the first week in
September, he returns home weary and exhausted,
fitter for his bed than his dinner : the second and

i\

179

third week he recovers his powers, and can con-
verse all the evening, though he may have followed
his game with ardour all the day. A post-horse,
or a machiner, will often eclipse the performances
of the best-fed horse in a dealer's stables. I re-
collect, at the age of sixteen, riding a post-horse
nearly as old as myself, above sixty miles in less
than nine hours, and he came in almost as fresh
as when he started. I felt ashamed of being seen
on the back of such a lath-like, worn out, famished
hack ; but it was a case of necessity, and I had no
alternative. When he brought me home so gaily, I
felt as proud of him as I was before ashamed ; and
I will answer for it, that not one in twenty of the
high-fed cattle of our London stables would have
done half the work, simply for this reason — that
they want that vigour which exercise alone can
impart.

A very important duty of the groom is stopping
the feet at night ; it is not necessary to do this
every evening, but every alternate evening it is
desirable. A mixture of clay and cow-dung is the
usual and the best stopping; the effect of it is to
keep the feet cool, and the horny substance of the
sole and frog moist and elastic. Any man who
doubts this, can easily satisfy himself by leaving
one foot open for a week or ten days, and stopping
N 2

180

the other ; he will at the end of that time, per-
ceive a sensible difference between them. Where
the crust of the hoof is naturally dry and brittle,
it should be dressed externally with tar, especially
in hot weather. I have for many years, at the
suggestion of Mr. Sewell, adopted the plan of
shoeing my horses with leather. I am not pre-
pared to say that in all cases it will answer, though
I have never found an instance in which it has
proved inj urious. It not only supersedes the ne-
cessity of stopping, but it protects the feet from
bruises, and picking up stones ; it also has another
advantage, which I conceive to be very great. It
enables the frog to sustain the pressure on the
foot without the least risk of injury, and spares
the leg the violence of the jar, always occasioned
by rapid action. If a man stamps on the pave-
ment with an iron-heeled boot, a considerable jar
will be felt, producing an unpleasant sensation
in the whole limb ; and this too, notwithstanding
the thick layers of leather of which the heels of
our boots are composed : if, however, he places a
piece of leather on the pavement, he may stamp
with all his power, and no such sensation will be
perceived. To a certain extent the same relief is
2:iven, by interposing a thick plate of leather be-
tween the hoof and the shoe of the horse. How

181

far this illustration may be found satisfactory, I
know not ; but the fact is undoubtedly true, so far
as my experience has gone, that my horses have
never become " groggy" when shod with leather,
though I have never been particularly sparing
of work.

The diet of horses is generally so regular and
uniform, that all comment upon it seems super-
fluous. So many feeds of oats, a given quantity
of water, and a rack of hay morning and evening,
are the stated allowance in every stable. It is not,
howev^er, quite a matter of course to be left to the
discretion of the groom. I very much fear that
no rules which can be given, will effectually pre-
clude the waste and pilfering of the master's oats ;
yet even on this point a little personal attention
will prove a better security than is commonly sup-
posed. It is necessary to ascertain in the first
instance whether the horse is a good feeder or not ;
and this is easily done by observing him two or
three times ; if he does not feed well, he will not
consume more than three feeds a-day, and this will
enable us by a little calculation to judge whether
the corn-bill is larger than necessary : if he feeds
well, four feeds is a fair allow^ance; but I am sorry
to say that in far the larger number of livery
stables, the bait during the day must be reckoned

182

for nothing. The com should be given as nearly
as possible at regular intervals, and never more
than a quartern at a time. Horses will often eat
up a double feed with apparent appetite, but they
rarely digest it: the oats should be old, clean, and
above all, free from any musty smell. It is not
easy to an unpractised eye to judge of their quality
by a single sample ; but by comparison of different
samples in the chandler's shop, the appearance of
good oats soon becomes familiar.

It will save considerable waste to have the oats
bruised in a mill : the cost of one is only five or
six pounds ; the trouble of it nothing. I was
never aware of the quantity of dirt and impurities
to be found even in clean oats^ till a friend recently
showed me the siftings of his bruising mill ; such
rubbish in the stomach of a horse cannot but be
most injurious ; the principal object, however, in
bruising the corn, is to assist the mastication, and
of course the digestion. The oats frequently pass
through the stomach and bowels, without being
broken, especially in horses that are fast feeders ;
I think it is no exaggeration to say, that three
feeds of bruised oats will convey as much nutri-
ment to the animal, as four that are not bruised.
In the country and in large posting establishments,
where the labour of the mill would be inconvenient,

183

the same end is gained by mixing the oats with
chaff. It becomes impossible for the horse to bolt
his food when thus mixed, and the mastication
being slower, is more complete. Where chaff is
required in large quantities, I can suggest an in-
genious method of cutting it, practised by an
intelligent friend of mine, Mr. Cleeve, the proprie-
tor of one of the principal dairies in London. He

I has constructed a treadmill to work the chaff-
cutter; it consists simply of two old gig-wheels,
to the fellies of which steps are nailed, and by aid
of an iron crank attached to the axle, the machine
is easily and rapidly worked, at one-third of the
expense of manual labour and in less than one-
third of the time. He keeps several hundred cows

I and horses, and of course consumes large quanti-

! ties of chaff: he told me that the whole cost of
erecting it did not exceed ten pounds. ]Mr. Cleeve
farms on a very extensive scale, and he informs me
that he has used a similar mill very advantageously
in thrashing his corn. He applied it to this pur-
pose in the first instance, as a convenient resource
for paupers who complained of want of w^ork ! It
cured all complaints, but latterly the labourers

• have rather fancied the occupation.

To return from this digression. Beans or
pease are often given with the oats, and when a

184

horse is travelling, or engaged in severe labour,
this is judicious; some horses, indeed, when ac-
customed to them, will refuse their oats without
them. Whenever they are given, they ought to
be split : old horses often cannot masticate them,
and young horses, when hungry, will not take the
trouble. One or two handfuls in a quartern of
oats are quite sufficient. With this allowance of
corn, I should never fill the rack above once
in four-and-twenty hours. A gentleman, distin-
guished for his practical knowledge of farming in
all its branches, but who will not allow me to
mention his name, has recommended me to give
my horses daily half-a-peck of the first year's
shoots of French furze, well bruised ; he commends
it as highly improving to the coat, and generally
favourable to the condition of the animal. I have
never tried it, but I have such implicit confidence
in the judgment of my friend, that I have no
hesitation in advising a trial. If I were at liberty
to mention his name, it would carry far greater
weight than my opinion.

A horse is usually stinted in his water, except
at night ; on what principle I cannot discover.
Immediately before violent exercise, much water
is injurious : but a horse will only drink to excess,
when he has been long deprived of water; if he

185

is allowed to take it frequently, be will not indulge
himself in large quantities : grooms and ostlers
always seem to forget that his sobriety far exceeds
their own. It is best to choose water that has not
been recently drawn from the well, for in summer
time its temperature is very cold. When a horse
refuses his food in travelling, the day's journey
should cease, and it will be well to mingle meal
with his w^ater, and give it him slightly w^arm.
This will often restore him to his appetite, and
enable him to resume his work the next morning
without difficulty. He should never be urged to
go more than twenty miles without a bait. I
generally stop for half an hour or forty minutes
every fifteen miles, and never found that I lost
time by doing so. I have picked up many a
useful hint in the management of a horse on the
road from commercial travellers ; some of them
are worth mentioning to those who, like myself^
cannot always afford the luxury of a servant upon
a long journey. They may seem common-place
to many who are familiar w^ith the subject, but I
write expressly for readers of the opposite descrip-
tion, and they will thank me for such details.

Even the rehef found by both horse and rider in
occasionally dismounting at long hills, w^hether in
ascending or descending them, seems forgotten by

186

gentlemen travellers. Yet, when the journey is
long, to trot a tired horse up-hill is cruelty, and
sometimes occasions him to throw a curb : to ride
rapidly down hill, shakes his fore legs, and not
unfrequently throws the rider. As then the walk
is indispensable, and no time is lost, the weight
may as well be removed by dismounting. Another
of my travelling rules is to give my horse his
water at some pond on the road side, a mile or
two before I stop to bait him. The subsequent
exercise prevents its being injurious to him in
suddenly checking perspiration ; while by deferring
it, as is usually done, till he has been dressed, he
is kept suffering from thirst for an hour or two,
and of course refuses his corn. It so rarely hap-
pens that gentlemen tiy their own powers by long-
continued and severe exertion, that they are not
very capable of appreciating the suffering occa-
sioned by real thirst. When I was many years
younger, it was no uncommon occurrence to me to
walk forty or fifty miles in a day ; sometimes even
sixty. The relief afforded on such arduous amuse-
ment, by an occasional glass of ale, is unspeakably
great, and I judge of my horse by myself: but I
regulate him by the same rules, — I allow him fre-
quent sipsy but never indulge him in ample pota-
tions till night.

187

It is yet more important to superintend both his
dressing and feeding, when he arrives at an inn.
I never trust this to an ostler, nor even to my own
servant. I stand by, and watch the whole cere-
mony. Good policy as well as humanity dictates
this precaution ; for of all the annoyances to which
a traveller is subject, none is more intolerable than
to find his horse disabled, probably by a chill (as
it is technically called) at a dull country inn.
Three days' penance, gaping at a well-thumbed,
ereasy, provincial newspaper, threading the dirty,
smoky passages from the coffee-room to the stable
and back, in feverish impatience for the hourly
bulletin : prosing consultations on drenches, balls,
and diuretics, with the village cow-leech ; muzzing
over a gloomy fire, amidst fumes of stale tobacco,
or the unsavoury nose-bag of a farmers' ordinary
on market day ; fumbling the fingers in the breeches
pockets, in sad anticipation of landlord's, farrier's,
and ostler's fees absorbing all their contents : — such
are a few of the miseries, all of which might have
been saved by a httle self-denial in postponing
your own dinner to your horse's, and in attending
to his animal comforts in preference to yourself.

It is not enough to order the corn, or even to
examine its quality, and see it given ; the traveller
must see it eaten. Even where ostlers are honest.

188

their guests are often knaves. Before I was duly
sensible of the value of these precautions, I one
day noticed that my horse had made very rapid
work with his feed. I had seen the oats put into
his manger, and had been engaged about five or
ten minutes in conversation with the ostler in the
yard. I knew that the animal required, at the
least, five-and-twenty minutes to finish his corn
when mixed with chaff, yet on returning to his
manger I found it all gone. I told the ostler my
suspicions, and he was not less anxious than myself
to detect the culprit. I ordered him to bring another
feed, and a handful of nettles : I also bought a
little cow-itch at a druggist's shop in the town.
We put the whole unobserved into the manger, and
tied the halter to the rack to prevent the horse
from reaching the oats. We then retired, and the
trap succeeded. A gentleman's servant was attend-
ing a pair of carriage horses in the same stable.
In less than ten minutes the rascal came out swear-
ing in no measured terms at the " cockney fool
that fed his horse with nettles," and rubbing his
hands with a grin of horror mixed with pain, that
gave me infinite satisfaction. I immediately ten-
dered him the kindest advice ; " a mixture of
nettles and cow-itch was the finest diet in the
world for a coach-horse on a journey !" When I

189

mentioned the cow-itch I thought the fellow would
have gone mad ; and not without reason ; some of
the spicula had attached themselves to the cuff of
his coat, and I doubt not that they tickled him to
some purpose for a week after !

I have already observed on the expediency of
giving a horse that shows symptoms of distress, a
gruel drink ; but sometimes these symptoms are
too severe not to require further aid. This is
almost the only case in which cordials can be ad-
ministered with advantage ; where a horse exhibits
signs of being " done up," completely exhausted
by severe exertion, I should not hesitate (though
I believe it is contrary to the opinion of many ex-
perienced judges,) to give him a bottle of good
sherry : but this certainly would be wrong after
any of the inflammatory symptoms of a chill have
shown themselves. In that case prompt and free
bleeding only can save the horse, and any cordial
is decidedly injurious. The state of the pulse will
usually indicate the existence of inflammatory
action. It is necessary to inform the inexperienced
that the only place where the pulse can be felt to
advantage, so as to discriminate the sensation with
accuracy, is under the jaw, where the sub-maxillary
artei-y can be pressed against the bone. As the
position of this artery is only known with certainty

190

by the anatomist, it may guide the touch to direct
the finger along the inside jaw, a little above the
edge where it begins to decline downwards, gently
pressing it against the jaw till the pulsation is felt.
By doing this two or three times, any man will
soon discover the exact spot where he should feel
for the pulsation. In a healthy horse, the intervals
should be about 40 or 45 per minute. When it
exceeds this by ten or twelve pulsations, the horse
is not well ; but the circulation may be momenta-
rily accelerated even to that extent, by sudden
alarm ; it is therefore expedient to approach the
horse quietly, and to caress him for a minute or
two first, if he shrinks from approach. If the
pulse exceeds sixty, prompt and scientific atten-
tion is indispensably required.

These general rules for the treatment of a sound
I )r weary horse are of easy application : they require
lothing more than a little attention from any man
)f common sense. It is not so easy to advise an
mskilful man how to treat an unsound horse, and
'et there are general suggestions that may deserve
ittention even on this head, if he is so circum-
stanced as not to have easy access to an intelligent
arrier. In London, every man who keeps a horse
liabitually, should subscribe to the Veterinary Col-
bge ; for the trifling fee of tvv'o guineas annually,
le is assured of having a sick or disabled horse
reated with all the skill of which the present state
f veterinary science admits ; and he is equally
ertain that disease will not be prolonged to swell
he length of a farrier's bill. Indeed the first point
/hich ought to be considered, is generally the last

192

that ordinary farriers ever suggest to a customer—
whether the horse is of sufRcient value to be worth
the expense of a cure. I have myself before now
paid fifteen pounds for the cure of a horse that
never was worth ten ; but I never committed the
fault a second time. I offered the man the horse
in discharge of his bill, but he laughed in my face
at my simplicity.

It often happens, however, that no farrier is a1
hand, at least none that knows more of his busi-
ness than the horse itself. In such cases, all thai
can be done is to observe some obvious principles
which at all events can do but little harm. If th(
horse betrays great pain, and especially a difficult}
of breathing, copious bleeding should be resortec
to without delay, and it is far better to bleed onct
very freely, than several times at intervals. In
flammatory action is often arrested by bleedinj
largely in the first instance ; and when once ar
rested, all the distressing symptoms are speedil;
relieved ; but so rapid is the secretion of the blood
especially in inflammatory disease, that four or fiv
times the quantity abstracted, if taken away h
several successive operations, will produce little o
no effect compared with the loss of four or fiv
quarts at one time. It may safely be assumed
that wherever acute pain is indicated, inflamma

193

tion obtains : and as the symptoms of pain are
very unequivocal in a liorse, an easy guide is thus
given as to the necessity of bleeding.

If febrile symptoms appear, the same step may

be taken, but not to the same extent. The symp-

i toms of fever are not characteristic of pain, though

I the breathing is often affected. In a febrile affec-

I tion, the horse is languid, his coat loses its even,

glossy appearance, and becomes what the grooms

call ^^ staring ;" the legs and feet are cold, and the

appetite is gone ; the bowels are usually confined,

and the general look of the horse is rather what

I one would describe as miserable, than restless and

! uneasy. In such cases I should recommend fre-

! quent, but not copious bleeding, and the bowels

should be opened by purgative medicine: two

drachms of aloes is a sufficient dose, to be repeated

'eveiy ten or twelve hours, and if they fail to

operate, a glyster would probably prove of service :

I the stable should be cool, and the horse kept warm

by extra clothing. His legs should be well rubbed,

and bandaged with flannel rollers.

Whenever the severe symptoms, w^hether of in-
flammation or fever, are subdued, anxious attention
should be given to the horse's diet. Gruel and
bran mashes will keep the bowels slightly relaxed,

and should be continued till he shows signs of
o

194

returning appetite ; but some time should be suf-
fered to elapse before he is indulged with his
usual food.

It is no uncommon thing for the owner to
abandon the case as hopeless, when he sees his
horse spontaneously lying down. I believe this
to be a great mistake : a horse, in great pain, will
lie down and roll himself about ; but I have often
heard it remarked by very experienced men, that,
unless to relieve himself, where the legs or feet are
injured, a horse that is ill will continue standing as
long as his strength will permit : it is considered a
favourable sign if he lies down on the litter, without
being compelled by actual debility ; and it follows
of course, that instead of relaxing exertion, all the
remedies should be pursued more actively to save
him.

In cases of recent local injury, fomentations,
poultices, and local bleeding, are generally service-
able ; this is particularly the case in strains of the
back sinews or accidents to the foot. It is very
important in such cases to watch closely the
operations of the country farrier : fomentations,
and even poultices are troublesome, and therefore
not continued, even if at first adopted ; to a recent
wound in shoeing, or treading on a nail. Friar's
balsam may be usefully applied ; ])ut where the

195

wound is severe, this or any stimulant will increase
the inflammation to a mischievous extent. The
horn (if the wound is in the foot) should be pared
away, and the place poulticed. Lameness occur-
ring soon after shoeing should always excite a sus-
picion that the sensible sole has been pricked, and
in such a case it is obviously impolitic to consult
the smith by whom the horse was shod. In apply-
ing a poultice, it is a common practice to tie it
tightly round the foot or leg with strings. This
is injurious : a worsted stocking is a very con-
venient bag, and may easily be kept on by apply-
ing another stocking to the other foot, and passing
a roller over the withers to connect the two. Any
tight ligature round the leg is injudicious, if it can
be avoided.

Where any place is galled or swelled by the
saddle, or the harness, fomentation is the best of
all remedies; should any abscess be formed it should
be opened and kept open by a seton, till the
matter is entirely discharged. A kick or a bruise
should receive the same treatment if the contusion
is considerable ; and especially in the case of
broken knees. In this case a horse is often more
blemished by the treatment than by the accident
itself. If the joint is much injured, a cure is

generally hopeless ; it would be more hunmne as
o 2

196

well as more prudent to destroy the animal at once ;
but if the wound does not affect the joint, (and on
this point the farrier alone can give certain informa-
tion,) it should be carefully and tenderly washed
out with a sponge and warm water, and then
poulticed for two or three days ; after this the
inflammation will probably have subsided, and
ointment should be applied ; not gunpowder and
grease : every country blockhead recommends this
to promote the growth of the hair ; it has no such
effect, and on the contrary, it often irritates and
retards the cure of the wound. Lard alone, or
with a little mixture of alum, will be much better ;
care, however, should be taken to apply the oint-
ment in the direction of the hair ; otherwise, when
the cure is effected, the hair will grow in an uneven
or inverted form, and will make the blemish more
apparent.

In all cases of strains, local bleeding and rest
are indispensable ; where the back sinews are
affected, rest can only be secured by a high-
heeled shoe : after all inflammation has disap-
peared, absolute rest, even for a considerable time,
is requisite to a cure : if the part is enlarged,
stimulating lotions, such as hartshorn and oil in
equal proportions, and even blistering, may be be-
neficially appUed ; I have not, however, much faith

19:

in any remedy but absolute rest ; and even after
months of quiet, I have great doubts whether
severe strains, accompanied as they often are, by
a fracture of some Hgament, admit of a permanent
cure. In the early stages, an emollient poultice
of hnseed and bran should be applied to strains of
the leg, whatever part of it may be injured, and
the horse's diet should be changed. If by this
treatment the horse apparently recovers the use of
the limb without pain, the high-heeled shoe may
be removed, but he should not be put to work for
some weeks ; he should be turned into a loose box,
ur a straw yard, and indeed this should be done in
every serious case of local injury or internal disease.
These general hints may assist a man in direct-
ing, or at least superintending, the care of a sick
horse in doubtful hands ; but I only offer them as
deserving attention in this extreme case, for, vary-
ing the proverb a little, when a man is his own
farrier, his horse has a fool for his master.

I HAVE only casually adverted to the tricks and
vices of horses. They are so frequently occasioned
by the tricks and vices of the owner or his groom,
that a chapter on humanity and good sense would
be most appropriate to the subject. It may be
taken as a sound principle that vice may be easily
prevented, but rarely can be cured. Rearing,
plunging, kicking in the stall, bolting, biting, and
all the black catalogue of equestrian vexation, are
tricks never forgotten when once acquired. A bold
and clever rider will often subdue a restive horse
into temporary docility ; indeed, when once the
mastery of a horse is effectually attained, he will
be very cautious of entering into any personal dis-
cussion, but he will make up for his self-command
the instant a new rider is on his back. The mill
or the stage is the only place for such an animal.

i

199

I have occasionally met with young gentlemen,
{very young,) who affect to prefer " a brute with
a queer temper," because he will " do most work."
These pinafore riders "never find the horse too
much for them,'' — " He goes very quietly with
mer a peculiar emphasis being carelessly as it
were lent to the pronoun, as if less by way of
marking the skill of the rider, than the oddity
of the horse. When I hear this, I set it down
as of course, that the speaker has never been on
horseback a second time in his life, or at all
events, never mounted a second horse. It is digress-
ing a little from the subject, but I cannot resist
the temptation of mentioning an adventure I had
a iew years since with a jackanapes of this de-
scription. He overtook me one afternoon riding
home from the city ; he was mounted on a good
mare, but with vice legibly written on her face.
He was obviously uncomfortable, and I advised
him to dismount. " O no ! never liked a horse
I better ; she is rather queer to be sure, but I am
riding her into order for a friend who finds her too
much for him." I was not his nurse, so I said no
more. Presently he dropped his stick ; I offered
to hold the mare while he recovered it, but I found
that he dared not dismount; he could not be as-
sured of reseating; himself I I foresaw the catas-

200

trophe. No sooner had I given him his cane,
than, to show his courage, he applied it to his
mare, and away she went like a bullet. To give
chase to a runaway horse, is the unkindest ser-
vice in the world. I followed at my leisure ; the
youth was going to a dinner party, and I thought
the worst that would happen, would be his arriv-
ing in time to cook the dinner.

At Islington, an old woman was in modern
phraseology, " flaring up" like a fury : an orange-
barrow overturned, and oranges scattered to the
winds, bespoke the nature of her provocation : she
had escaped by miracle. A hundred yards farther
a costermonger's cart showed symptoms of un-
wonted distress — cabbages, carrots, and potatoes
strewed the ground, while the owner vented his
indignant wrath in cordially wishing my unlucky
friend might finish his career in the shades below.
Misfortunes thickened as I traced his steps ; a
mob at Battle-bridge surrounded the toll-collector:
a good-natured attempt to close the gate had ex-
posed his limbs to serious risk, though it had not
saved his penny ; the man was quit for a bloody
nose, and a fishwoman for the trouble of washing
her soles a second time. I followed in dismay ; a
quarter of a mile further, two stanhopes going in
opposite directions had come in direct collision ;

201

bur gentlemen were just recovering their legs, and
gaping round in bewilderment at the sudden ap-
)arition of Tarn o' Shanter the second ; their horses
lad taken fright at the clatter of the mare, and,
•mulating her good example, bolted too, and
net in full career. At Tottenham-court-road the
landy's hat had taken leave. I tracked its owner,
ike a fox, guided by countless accidents, till I
irrived at Paddington, and there, emerging from a
)ed of savoury slush, I found him ! He was in
ruth well equipped for the hero of a drawing-room !

quantum mutatus ab illo

Hectore.

He had pitched head-foremost into one of those
uscious quagmires which heretofore our road

202

makers were wont to accumulate at the road-side.
The mud formed a rich pomatum for his curly mop.
The pillory could not have worked a more com-
plete metamorphosis. ^' Carry the gemman to the
pump !" was the general cry, and certainly his folly
deserved it. I called a coach just in time to save
him from friends and foes, for on retracing my
route, I encountered orange-women, costermongers,
gentlemen, and fish-fags, all in full cry, like a pack
of beao'les !

There is no effectual cure for a restive horse. I
have once or twice succeeded in the case of bolting,
but it has only been by a severity of work that I
cannot recommend — by urging him to exhaustion.
For a time it cures the horse, but it renders hirr
unfit for work, or sale ; and when his condition u
restored, his vice returns with it : but prevention ij
easy ; the groom should never be allowed to teasf
his horses. A horse does not understand a jest
tickling or pinching him, worrying him in tht
stall, sometimes coaxing and then scolding him
dressing him while feeding, pushing or striking
him with the fork ; — all play of this kind leadj
to retort, which when it becomes habitual, i^
incurable vice. But the groom alone is not ir
fault; many of the minor tricks are taught b)
the rider.

203

A horse should be mounted steadily, but
romptly ; and when mounted, should be allowed
p walk away quietly for the first hundred yards :
listead of this, nothing is more common than to see
man, as soon as his foot is in the stirrup, apply the
pur, and check the curb, to show off his horse's
pirit. Thus he becomes irritable and impatient
tie moment he is led out of the stable, and some-
imes acquires a habit of rearing and plunging
•efore the rider is well settled in his seat. Some
(loughtless blockheads can never pass a carriage,
specially if ladies are in it, without the same am-
(ition of display ; hence the animal views an ap-
•roaching carriage as the forerunner of punishment,
ind resists every attempt to pass it. Many who
»ught to know better, (I have myself been among
he number,) challenge every stage they overtake ;
iager to " give it the go by," they put the horse to
lis speed, and the horse is taught a foolish and dan-
gerous competition, till his trot breaks into a gallop,
it the sound of wheels. In harness, horses fre-
|uently acquire the habit of gihhingy or swerving
rom the direct line, by inattention to the collar ;
f it galls the shoulder, or presses on the windpipe,
"IS often happens when it has not been made ex-
pressly for him, he resists the draught; when
punished for resistance, he rears, or kicks ; and if

204

he thus vanquishes a timid driver, he will repeat
the trick till it becomes habitual. The first repulse
at starting, should lead to close examination of the
collar; and indeed, it is a useful practice, to see
that "all is right" at every journey: unsound reins
or traces may lead to serious mischief, with the
most quiet team. It is not out of place to notice
the injudicious manner of many riders, in managing
their bridle on hilly roads. I lived at Hampstead
for several years, and had ample opportunity of
observing this. It was quite proverbial among us
that a man was not free of the road, who had not
paid the penalty of three falls. I believe, that
during my five years' residence, I was the only
daily traveller upon it who could not claim his

,y- *--Z^-v.^"/^3=^-

<:9^

'^Kv:,

205

freedom. I never had a fall, and yet I rode my
horse as freely down the hill, as up it. I attribute
my good fortune to my observation of others. I
noticed that every rider was accustomed to jog
gently down the hill, with a tight rein, and forward
inchnation of the body ; as if he was counting the
stones before him, and speculating which was to
throw him down. Nothing is better calculated to
insure a fall ; if a horse's legs are so groggy as to
make a tight rein necessary, he should not be
ridden at all ; he is not safe on the most level
ground : but if his legs and feet are sound, he
should be allowed his head, and left to his natural
pace; the bridle should be firmly in hand, but the
mouth need not be worried by constant bearing on
the bit. So long as the horse goes freely, he will
go safely ; he will of his own accord check his
speed if he finds it dangerous, unless urged by
unusual stimulus of punishment or competition.
I have invariably acted on this principle, and found
it safe : I think if some of my Hampstead friends
were to adopt it too, they would not be obliged to
purchase " the freedom of the road " at such a
costly price. It is a principle, almost amounting
to an axiom, in horsemanship, that the most fear-
less rider is the safest. I know of no instance in
which it so truly appUes, as in leaping, or riding

206

down hill. I have witnessed more falls in hunting
from checking a horse at his leaps, than from any
other cause ; and I believe for the same reason that
he stumbles in descending a hill, when the bridle
is tight in hand.

It is very desirable to inform oneself speedily of
any peculiarities in a horse that has been recently
purchased. An instance of the awkward predica-
ment in which one may unexpectedly be placed by
tricks, partly playful and partly vicious, lately oc-
curred to myself. I was mounted on a very good
horse, but of a temper somewhat uncertain. He
is well known to my private friends by the name
of Caliban. I was proceeding leisurely from tht
House of Commons just at that period of the da^
when the street is usually crowded by the members
carriages : the result was a complete blockade o1
the whole way as far as Charing Cross. I threaded
the carriages successfully, till I arrived at New
Street, when Caliban was startled by the abrupt
and hurried approach of a landau, passing two or
three yards before us, directly across our course.
He immediately retreated at speed, but with his,
face to the enemy ! I spurred, I flogged, I kicked
him with all my energy, but in vain ; the more I
spurred, the more resolutely he retrograded ! I
endeavoured to turn him on either side, but he

207

caught the check of the bit between his teeth, held
down his head, and defied me ! I would have
given my ears for a plunge or a rear, for the ec-
centricity of the movement made me the laughing
stock of the assembled mob: ludicrous misfortune,
especially on horseback, has always an indescrib-
able charm for the million ; good humour is the
only remedy in such a case, and I laughed too,
though with little zest for the sport. But my dis-
tress approached its climax. Caliban at length
planted himself at the carriage door of a drowsky,
fixed in the line of carriages, in which were four
ladies, heartily enjoying my vexation, if I might
judge from a hasty glance at their lovely smiles ;
but if it was so, Caliban maliciously avenged me.
Desperate with shame, and mad with the ridicule
of the scene, I fairly buried the rowels in his side.
I dare not describe the terrific consequence : finis
coroJiat opus / ^ ^ =^ # * One fatal scream
announced the catastrophe; and Caliban, satis-
fied with the mischief he had perpetrated, danced
off" in the right direction, to the old tune of '^ the
devil take the hindmost /" I turned my head — not
to laugh, I solemnly declare — but to take oft' my
hat, and apologize. It was, however, past apology ;
Avhite handkerchiefs were wiping away the falling
tears ! another look would have been death. I

208

decamped. The mob had new matter for fun, and
I escaped unscathed. Let my readers take a les-
son to beware of a '^ horse wot backs," as he was
then merrily christened by the laughing bystand-
ers ! The lady that principally received the rude
salute, was elegantly dressed in green silk I

Before I advert to the very difficult subject of
warranty, I think a word or two upon horse auc-
tions would not be out of place. There is some-
thing particularly attractive in an auction ; though
the most deceitful of all markets, the purchaser
takes a pleasure in being deceived. It partakes of
the excitement of the gaming-house ; yet the most
sober people speculate in the sale-room without
compunction. The possibility that the auctioneer
may speak the truth, (a bare possibility it must be
owned,) the certainty that if he does, the pur-
chase is cheaply made, the accidental bargains
occasionally realized, though not more than twice
in a thousand sales, and above all, the self-increas-
ing stimulus of competition, the jealous fear lest
^he half-crown more of some less parsimonious
bidder should make him the happy man, combine
p

210

to induce a semi-intoxication of cupidity, that leaves
a novice no chance of escape without remorse.
Auctions ought to have been put down at the same
time with lotteries ; at all events, three purchases
should qualify a man for Bedlam, without the aid
of a commission of lunacy. I never but once
bought at an auction without being cheated, and
that only happened because the interest sold was
of a nature so complicated and unusual, that not
a man in the room comprehended its real value.

There is however an essential difference between
horse-auctions and all others; it is not only the
case, as I have elsewhere observed, that no animals
are sent to them but such as it is morally impos-
sible to sell elsewhere, but nineteen out of twenty
of the buyers are hiographically acquainted with
the quadrupeds. Though horses of all descriptions
are at times sold at every horse-auction in the me-
tropolis, each yard has its peculiar trade. Sporting
horses, whether for the field or turf, are the staple
commodity at Tattersall's. Machiners, as they
are called, that is, post-horses, or stage-horses, are
generally found at Dixon's or Robinson's. Morris's,
better known as Aldridge's,* is well supplied with

* This establishment has been lately transferred to Mr. Young
of the Bazaar.

211

tradesmen's hacks ; and the Bazaar is usually full
of the most miscellaneous collection of gentlemen's
chargers, equally fit for the saddle or the stanhope,
the park or the road ! The motley crew who
frequent these places are the same at every sale :
and the bill of fare varies as little as the guests.
" Very superior, well-bred, short-legged, up-stand-
ing, fast, young, seasoned horses, the genuine pro-
perty of a coach-proprietor reducing his stock," or
of " a gentleman compelled by ill-health to give up
hunting," among which will " assuredly" be found
"some excellent buggy-horses, and a few with
grand action for a cabriolet," and not a few *^ equal
to sixteen stone, up to any hounds." Such are
the prizes ; and all are warranted sound, quiet in
harness, and free from vice. It is a pity that such
valuable animals should be so little appreciated ;
but it is by no means for w^ant of competent
judges.

The fii^st spectacle that meets the eye of a
novice is a collection of lumbering, antiquated,
broken-springed, one-horse carts, congregated
round the gateway of the yard, guarded by ragged
boys, old-harness dealers, saddle-coblers, and
stick merchants. Groups of this description ex-
tend from the gateway to the next gin-shop ; and
are a sure indication that a horse-sale is going on

212

in the neighbourhood. You may safely elbow your
way through them : the frequenters of the place
rarely have enough in their pockets to make it a
haunt for common thieves ; and if such an inter-
loper dared show himself, he would infallibly be
horsewhipped within an inch of his life, for the
"credit of the trade." Your danger is far greater
than losing pocket-money or handkerchief I
wonder that Hogarth never sketched a horse-auc-
tion, but perhaps they were unknown in his days :
the characters would be worthy of his pencil : — some
collected in a corner, some mounted on the top of
a coach on sale, and others lounging near the
stand ; huddled together in detached bodies of half
a score, are seen fellows, such as you might take
at random from the next row of hackney coaches.
Their dress is as varied as the colour of their car-
riages, yet with a dash of esprit de corps^ imme-
diately perceptible to the practised eye. One
is equipped in a post-boy's coat, reaching to his
ancles, with some half-a-dozen pearl buttons scat-
tered at unequal intervals down the lapels ; a
whity-brown castor, jauntingly covering one side of
the head, with an orange handkerchief transferred
from the neck to supply the band, completes the
jockey out of place. Another in a long, loose
fustian jacket, out at elbows, buttonless and colour-

213

less, overlapping brown corded breeches, that ad-
here to his person without the aid of braces, by-
some chemical affinity as yet miknown to philoso-
phy, bears the marks of annual migration from the
stable yard to Newgate, and back again to summer
quarters at Epsom or Newmarket; — boots, that
once had tops, approach wdthin six inches of the
knee, disclosing stockings that once were white.
A third, of more aspiring pretensions, struts in the
cast-off green frock and tight leathers of Sir John's
whipper-in ; a withered nosegay in his button-hole,
and a dusky, tattered belcher round his neck.
Patched stable-jackets, rough great coats, and
here and there a butcher's or a farrier's apron,
denote more or less, the wearer's habitual pursuit ;
but all are alike marked by certain characteristics
of the sporting tribe ; — one hand is employed in
sounding the emptiness of the coat or breeches
pocket, while the other, armed with a whip or
small ash switch, sometimes applies it to the
owner's boot, or horse's flank, and at others,
presses it in profound meditation, against the lips
or forehead ; a spur of formidable length, adorns
one heel ; and all without exception, have the hat
elevated, with a demi-cock, and the two lowest
buttons of the coat or waistcoat unbuttoned. Such
are your competitors at every horse-sale : now and

214

then a stray gentleman, or one in the garb of a

gentleman, may be seen threading his way through

the dirty mob; especially at Tattersall's, on the

sale of a racing or hunting stud ; on these state

occasions, they, in fact, constitute the mob. It is

some small comfort to find oneself in clean society,

but as regards all substantial points, the novice

is as safely mixed with the one herd as the other*

I must not omit the auctioneer ; but description is

difficult. Shabby gentility is not the phrase ; yet

their cut is always " shabby genteel." Were the

coat made by Stultz, and the boots by Hoby, there

is an indescribable peculiarity in the wear of the

habiliments, that marks, not the gentleman, but

the tolerated associate of soi-disant gentility; — a

vulgar would-be equality, recognized on the turf,

and scouted elsewhere ; — a "one of us" pretension,

countenanced at Newmarket, half-acknowledged

at Melton, but spurned within the purlieus of St.

James's : a salutation of professional familiarity

in the field, is no security against a place at

the second table in Grosvenor Square ; and the

consciousness of this, gives these indispensable

patrons of horseflesh a sort of mock importance,

on the strength of which they court the gay,

quiz the stranger, and rule the canaille. These

men, too, have the peculiar traits of their calling ;

215

roguery and humour contend for mastery in their
faces. The quick, yet wandering eye, the eleva-
tion of one angle of the mouth, not quite neu-
tralized by the depression of the other ; the half-
raised eyebrow, and shghtly protruding tongue,
well set off by a gentle inclination of the head to
catch a reluctant bidding, stamp the successful
horse auctioneer, so that you might recognize him
among ten thousand. Add a complexion half
bronzed by weather, but glowing with habitual
carousing, and the portrait is complete. Wine or
spirits will produce the jovial tint, according to the
caste of his daily customers.

These I have already described ; I write only for
accidental buyers, and one instance will suffice to
put them on their guard.

My compassion was much excited the other day
in witnessing the fate of a young tradesman, appa-
rently a tailor, who was anxiously examining every
horse, and bid for several without success. He
knew nothing about the matter, but he w^as come
'^to buy a horse," and a horse he would have. A
mare of some pretensions as to appearance, was
brought to the stand : it was, I think, the sixth or
seventh which took his fancy. She might be worth
ten pounds ; but, determined not to be forestalled
this time, he at once offered ten guineas, and set

216

the whole cortege gazing with amazement. They
would not let him off' so cheaply.

" Ten guineas bid ! she is worth fifty to any
man ; warranted sound, and quiet to drive ! Run
her down, Bill."

Ere she had returned to the stand, the auctioneer
had raised the biddings to fifteen.

" Sound, and quiet in harness ; going for fifteen :
I'd give forty myself. She's the best horse I've
sold to day : warranted sound and quiet — run her
down once more^ Bill."

Bill laid the whip on well ; the knowing ones
helped him, and the mare returned in style : a little

more, and her head would have tried its solidity
with the auctioneer's.

217

"Fifteen guineas bid. Sixteen: thank ye,
Sir : trust you won't have her for twenty ; quiet to
drive, carried a lady — Sound, Sir ? — There's not a
sounder horse in the yard. What do you hold her
that way for, blockhead ? Run her down again."

She began to show lame, even in standing : but
had she fallen on the spot, it would not have saved
the poor tailor: he bid twenty guineas without
demur, and she was knocked down to him forth-
with. A precious pair were standing near me.

" I'll be blest," said one of them, "if that an't
the old mare that Jem Spinks used to drive in the
four o'clock bus."

" No, sure not ! she warn't blind ! only a little
groggy before."

" She warn't groggy, by no means : very queer
about the eyes, but Jem sold her because she
kicked the splinter bar in two."

Blind, lame, and vicious ! I thought it an act
of common charity to tell the purchaser. He
received the news with horror ; found no warranty
in his receipt, and resold the brute ere he left the
yard, for five pounds, twelve shillings, and six-
pence !

Public sales are dangerous places for sellers as
well as buyers. A learned barrister, well known
in the literary world for his critical acumen, sent

218

his horse to the Bazaar for sale by auction. Being
well aware of the tricks of such markets, and dis-
trustful of the honesty of any puffing agent, he
attended the sale himself, and carefully noted the
number of his lot in his pocket-book. He felt not
a little pleased at the horse's spirited entree when
ushered up the ride, and still more gratified at
the auctioneer's ingenuity in painting his merits,
though utterly at a loss to guess where the deuce
he had learnt them. He had purchased the animal
a week before for forty guineas, and hitherto had
not discovered a single redeeming quality to com-
pensate for fifty faults. The biddings were slack,
however, malgre the auctioneer. Five pounds —
five pounds ten — six pounds — reluctantly dropped
at long intervals. " This will never do," thought
the learned gentleman, and by way of stimulating
competition, he jumped at once to thirty guineas.
The knowing ones stared, and promptly took the
hint : in less than a minute the lot was knocked
down to the novice himself at fifty guineas. He
regretted outstanding his market, but consoled
himself with the comfortable reflection that at least
he had learnt his horse's value, and had not been
taken in by the dealer.

" By your leave — make way there — stand aside
gen'l'm'n" — and two or three rough salutations of

219

sticks, whips, and voices, warned him of the rapid
approach of the next lot. The learned counsel
awoke from his reverie — rubbed his eyes — adjusted
his glasses — gaped, and stared, and gaped again
at the new comer with petrifying suspicion. He
turned with fumbling agitation to his pocket-book,
and found that, mistaking the lot, he had puffed
and purchased his neighbour's horse ! ! ! Having
two worthless animals thus unexpectedly thrown
upon his hands, he ventured on no more puffing,
but allowed his own to go at its just value, which
proved exactly enough to buy him a new wig for
the circuit.

I have been let into the secret by one of the
frequenters of these places. I have no reason what-
ever to distrust his information. As in commission
stables, it is rarely the case that a horse enters the
yard unknown to the jobbers about it ; and should
it so happen, a friendly glass with the under ostler,
or helper, will secure them full information ; of
course its value is at once known to a shilling.
Should it suit any of the fraternity, he will be
allowed to buy it somewhat under the mark — but
a stranger must smart for his intrusion; unless
known to be connected with the trade, the price is
run up, without much hazard of loss to the jobbers.
They buy, perhaps, a score of horses at the sale^

220

and when taken away, each selects those which
happen to be most suitable to his wants, and the
aggregate price of the lot is equitably divided
among them, according to their own estimate of
their value. Thus, had the poor tailor been led to
suspect his mare's blindness, by her running full
tilt against the stand, and then given up his bid-
dings, the jobber who would have bought her at
the next lowest bidding of nineteen guineas, would
have had half the price distributed among six or
eight of his brother dealers, when afterwards
settling the average of their respective purchases.
The impossibility of buying fairly, in the teeth of
such combination, is obvious ; nor would it much
mend the matter, to employ one of these men as
an agent : the chances are twenty to one that hh
opinion of a good horse would be far less fastidious
than yours ; and to secure his fee, he would assu-
redly recommend some one in the sale : were it
otherwise, he would run no better chance than a
stranger, if his object were discovered, and to con-
ceal it would be difficult.

Whether at a horse sale, or any other, set it down
as a maxim, that an auctioneer cannot do otherwise
than lie : " 'Tis my vocation, Hal."

Next to buying a good horse, there are few
things more difficult than buying good law ; but
the greatest problem with which a plain man can
puzzle his brains is to make law, whether good,
bad, or indifferent, intelligible to an every-day
reader. I have spent more time on the considera-
tion of this chapter than of all the rest of my work
put together ; and though a lawyer by profession,
and a jockey by taste, I confess that 1 entertain
great doubts whether, even if I understand myself,
I shall make myself intelligible to others : how-
ever, it is bad policy to be craning over the hedge
before you leap, so " have at it !"

Of course, there are many points in which horse-
deahng does not differ from any other buying and
selling transaction ; it is governed by the same
general rules as all trade in goods and chattels ;
and some of the cases to which I hereafter refer

222

are only quoted to illustrate the principles on
which these rules are founded. But with a view to
systematic arrangement of the subject, I shall take
it up from its natural beginning, and consider very
briefly the origin of these rules: they are essentially
founded upon an act of 29 Char. II. cap. 3, usually
called the Statute of Frauds. By the 17th section
of this act, it is provided that no contract for the
sale of any goods for the price of £10 or upwards,
shall be good, except the buyer shall accept and
actually receive part of the goods so sold, or give
something in earnest to bind the bargain, or in part
payment, or except some note or memorandum in
writing shall be made and signed by the parties to
the contract, or their agents, lawfully authorised.
By another act, the 9th Geo. IV. cap. 14, the
enactments of the last statute are extended to all
contracts for the sale of goods of the same value,
although the delivery of them may be intended to
be made at a future time, or although the goods
may not at the time of the contract be actually
made or fit for delivery. It is clear that the cases
likely to arise upon these statutes, will turn prin-
cipally upon what a delivery of goods consists in,
what amounts to an earnest or part payment, and
what will constitute a memorandum made and
signed by the parties or their agents.

223

The question of delivery is the one which most
usually arises in horse-dealing transactions ; and I
should define a delivery to be, any act whereby
the subsequent power of disposition over the horse
is transferred to the purchaser.

It is clear that a delivery may be either actual
or constructive : an actual delivery is a bona fide
transfer of the property from hand to hand ; as
where the purchaser receives the horse by his
halter, and leads him out of the seller's stable to
his own. But constructive delivery is by no means
equally intelligible ; the purchaser may have no
stable, or it may not be convenient to him to re-
move the horse at the time when the contract is
made, and in the majority of instances, it is usual
to leave the horse till a servant can be sent to fetch
it: in such cases the question arises whether a
dehvery has been actually made; and several
decisions upon the subject are to be found in our
Reports: the first to which I shall refer, is the
case of Elmore v. Stone, 1 Taunton, 458 ; here the
seller removed the horses which he sold from his
sale stable to his livery stable ; but in this and in
nearly every other instance I shall briefly quote
the case, as I conclude that few of my readers will
have a law library at hand, and it may be conve-
nient even to those who have.

224

Elmore v» Stone, 1 Taunton, 458. — " If a man
bargains for the purchase of goods, and desires the
vendor to keep them in his possession for an espe-
cial purpose for the vendee, and the vendor accepts
the order, this is a sufficient delivery of the goods
within the statute of frauds. It is no objection to
a constructive delivery of goods, that it is made by
words, parcel of the parole contract of sale."

The plaintiff kept a livery stable, and dealt in
horses. He demanded 180 guineas for two, which
the defendant refused in the first instance to give,
offering a lower price. The offer being rejected,
the defendant sent word that " the horses were his,
but that as he had neither servant nor stable, the
plaintiff must keep them at livery for him." The
plaintiff upon this removed them out of his sale
stable into another, and upon his afterwards bring-
ing an action for the price, the defendant set up the
statute of frauds, and contended that the contract
was not binding. Mansfield, C. J. assimilated the
case to that of goods at a wharf or in a warehouse,
where the usual practice is to deliver the key of the
warehouse, or a note, to the wharfinger, who makes
a new entry of the goods in the name of the vendee.
After the defendant had said that the horses must
stand at livery, and the plaintift^ had accepted the
order, it made no difference whether they stood at

225

livery in the vendor's stable, or whether they had
been taken away and put in some other stable.

It is clear from this case, that the buyer was
acknowledged to possess the power of disposition,
and the horses, by their removal into the livery
stable, were intended to be subject to his order and
control ; this therefore, was a delivery, although
the seller did not in point of fact give up the actual
possession of the goods sold.

The next case to which I shall refer, will appear
to an unprofessional reader to be somewhat incon-
sistent with the former ; but, on the contrary, the
authority of Elmore v. Stone, is expressly recog-
nized. The difference between the two cases is
fine, but may be collected from the observations of
the Chief Justice about to be cited.

1 Dowling and Ryland, 515, Carter v. Touissant.
— " Plaintiff sold a horse to the defendant at the
price of £30 by parole agreement ; the horse to be
fired, and remain in plaintiff's possession until fit
to be sent to grass ; at the end of twenty-two days
the horse was, by defendant's direction, taken to
graze at Kimpton park, and there entered in the
plaintiff's name : it was held that there was no
delivery to, or acceptance of the horse by the de-
fendant, to satisfy the 17th section of the statute
of frauds."

Q

226

In this case, the defendant went so far as to see
the horse fired, and expressed his approbation of
what had been done ; he also called several times
to look at the horse, while it remained in the
plaintiff's stables. The case of Elmore r. Stone
was quoted, and it was observed by C. J. Abbott,
that the custody was of the same kind as in this
case ; but that, in consequence of Elmore having
consented to put the horse in another stable, and
to keep it there at the defendant's charge, he had
chaiiged the character in which he originally held
the horse, and instead of holding him as his own,
held him for the defendant as his livery stable
keeper.

The exercise of ownership over the property sold,
by reselhng a part of it, and the acquiescence of the
seller in the subsequent removal of the part sold
fiom his premises, also appear to amount to a
constructive delivery ; the following case will
illustrate this position :

Chaplin xi. Rogers. 1 East 192. — "After a
bargain and sale of a stack of hay between
the parties on the spot, evidence that the pur-
chaser actually sold part of it to another person,
by whom, though against the purchaser's appro-
bation, it was taken away,^ is sufficient to warrant
a jury in finding a delivery to and acceptance by

227

the purchaser, thereby taking the case out of the
statute of frauds."

Ill this case two months elapsed, during which
the hay remained in the plaintiff's yard. Lord
Kenyon observed, " Where goods are ponderous,
and incapable, as here, of being handed over from
one to another, there need not be an actual de-
livery, but it may be done by that which is tanta-
mount, such as the delivery of the key of a ware-
house in which the goods are lodged, or by delivery
of other bidicia of property ; now here the defend-
ant dealt with this commodity afterwards as if it
were in his actual possession, for he sold part of it
to another person."

The strictness with which the courts treat the
question of delivery may be gathered from the
following case:

Hodgson V, Le Bret, 1 Campbell, 233.— "If
the purchaser of goods, at the time of sale, write
his name upon a particular article, with intent
to denote that he has purchased it, and to appro-
priate it to his own use, this is enough to take the
sale, as to the article written upon, out of the
statute of frauds ; but not as to other articles
bought at the same time."

It should be observed here that the articles were
at separate prices ; and I infer from this that each
(^ 9

228

purchase was viewed as a separate transaction:
the report of the case confirms this inference ; if
therefore a seller sells the horse and all his furni-
ture/or one sum, and delivers the bridle, or saddle,
or even the halter, though he retains the horse,
this vs^ould be a delivery within the statute : or to
put a more common case ; if the purchaser were
even to exchange the saddle on his own horse,
and ride away upon the saddle which he had pur-
chased as a part of the furniture of his new horse,
it would fall within the principle, and be an actual
delivery, although he left his own saddle behind
him. But if, on the other hand, the horse had
been sold for £50, and the furniture had been
separately sold for 505., this would not be one entire
contract, and consequently the delivery of the
saddle would not be a constructive delivery of the
horse, and the bargain for the latter would be void,
under the statute. In connexion with the case of
Hodgson V. Le Bret, the following also deserves
notice, as showing that the distinctions on the
subject of putting a written mark on the article
purchased, are rather nice :

In Baldey v, Parker, 3 D. and R., 220.—" Where
a person entered a tradesman's shop, and selected
various articles, some of which he marked with
a pencil, and others were cut from piece goods

229

and laid aside for him, (the whole amounting to
more than £10,) and desired them to be sent home,
and when sent he refused to take them, held first
that the contract was joint, and second, that there
was no acceptance to take the case out of the
statute of frauds. The case of Hodgson v. Le Bret
was cited, but no observation was made on it by
the court ; and the tenor of C. J. Abbott's obser-
vations was, that there must be an actual transfer
and handing: over of the thins^ from the seller to the
buyer, and a taking possession on the part of the
latter. The former case of Hodgson v. Le Bret
seems to be distinguished from this case, by the
fact of the name having there been written by the
purchaser on the goods set apart for him. Here,
though a mark was made, the name was not writ-
ten, and it w^as specially noticed by the court.

With respect to the sufficiency of a delivery of
part, to take the case out of the statute, there is
another case which ought to be noticed in con-
nexion w^ith Hodgson v. Le Bret. It is the case of
Thompson v. Macirone, 4 D. and R., 619. " Where
goods to the value of £144 were made pursuant to
order, but continued by desire of the vendee upon
the premises of the vendor, excepting a part to the
value of £2. IO5., which, the former took away ;
held that there was no delivery and acceptance of

230

the goods, within the meaning of the 17th section
of the statute.

Here however, I collect that the bargain was
not one and entire, but for the part removed as
distinct and separate from the bulk.

The acceptance of goods by the buyer must be
clear and unequivocal ; and a constructive accept-
ance will not be sufficient, (See Nicholle v. Plume,
1 Carrington and Payne, 272.) And in another
case of Tempest v. Fitzgerald, 3 Barnewell and
Alderson, 680, the necessity of a clear acceptance
seems yet more decidedly laid down. A agreed
to purchase a horse from B for ready money, and
to fetch him away on a given day. Two days
before that day A rode the horse, and gave direc-
tions as to his exercise and future treatment ; but
requested that he might remain in B's possession
for a further time, at the expiration of which he
promised to fetch him away and pay the price ;
the horse died before A paid the price, or took
him away ; it was held that there was no acceptance
of the horse, so as to make the bargain executed
within the meaning of the statute.

A delivery to a party named by the purchaser is
a delivery within the statute ; and so is a delivery,
without special directions, to a carrier where the
purchaser has been in the habit of receiving goods

231

from the vendor by a similar conveyance, vide
Hart V. Sattley, 3 Campbell, 528 ; and it would
appear from Button v. Solomonson, 3 Bosanquet
and Puller, 582, that a delivery of goods on behalf
of the vendee, to a carrier not named by the
vendee, is a good delivery. I apprehend that this
is about as much law upon the question of delivery
as my readers will desire, or as I may venture
upon without hazarding the safety of my book.

On the second ordinary question of dispute, the
payment of earnest money^ or part payment of the
price, there is little to be said ; even lawyers can
scarcely make their ingenuity avail them, to raise
a constructive payment of money, — the payment of
earnest must be bona jide ; as w^here a person
passed a shilling over the hand of the vendor, and
returned it into his own pocket, it was held not to
be a payment of earnest within the statute ; vide
Blenkinsop v. Clayton, 7 Taunton, 597 : a doubt
however, has been raised, what must be the pro-
portion of money paid to make it " earnest" within
the meaning of the statute.

There is an essential difference between payment
of " earnest," and part performance : in the case of
a contract for land, the statute of frauds does not
provide that payment of -^ earnest" shall save the
contract ; but part performance of the bargain will

232

have that effect. In the case of goods j the payment
of " earnest" is expressly excepted by the statute :
and the meaninsf of " earnest" would seem to be
any payment that proved the parties to be sincere,
or earnest, in the purpose of dealing. If this defi-
nition be correct, it seems to follow that the pay-
ment ought to be substantial, even when intended
for ^^ earnest :" the common opinion undoubtedly
is that any payment, however small, is sufficient :
should the question however be fairly raised on
any future occasion, I think it would be decided
that a payment so small as to be illusory, is not
sufficient. But I apprehend it to be a question of
fact for a jury, rather than of law: and that it
would be the duty of the jury to say whether the
payment was made, whatever might be its amount,
with a bo)id fide intention to bind the contract.
I can put a case of very probable occurrence to
illustrate the practical importance of this question
of " earnest." Suppose that A should buy a horse
from the groom of B, for £50, and pay a shilling
to bind the bargain. The groom, to a certainty,
would expend the shilling on gin, regarding it as
part of his fee, or "reglars," as they call it: the
man consequently gets drunk on his way home,
and when the animal is sent for in the evening, his
knees are broken. On whom does the loss fall 1

233

This would turn upon the question whether the
shining was " earnest," paid to bind the bargain.

Although I have pointed out the important dis-
tinction between contracts relating to land, and
those relating to goods, yet, as the doctrine relating
to the former has an important bearing on the
latter, so far as the subject of part delivery or
part payment is concerned, I will refer my readers
to the names of some cases, in which the doctrine
of part performance as to land was argued ; espe-
cially as the opinions of the courts seem to have
been 'divided on the subj ect. Vide Main v. Mel-
bourne, 4 Vesey, 720 ; Lord Fingall v. Ross, 2
Equity Abridgment, 46; Leak v. Morrice, 2 Chan-
cery cases, 135 ; Clinan v. Cooke, 1 Scholes and
Lefroy, 40 ; and Watt v. Evans, before Lord
Lyndhurst, at the Exchequer Sittings, after Trinity
term, 1834, in which all these cases are referred to.

The third question which I mentioned as of
common occurrence under the statute, is whether
a note or memorandum in writing has been signed
by the parties or their authorized agents. This
question usually arises out of the careless manner
in which all occasional transactions of buying and
selling are recorded. It may be laid down as a
general rule, that if the substance of the contract,
that is, the price given, the article sold, and the

234

names of the buyer and seller, are stated upon
paper, this will amount to a memorandum within
the statute ; it is not necessary that the bargain
should be detailed in all its minor and concomitant
circumstances, nor that the signature should be
formally attached to any particular part of the
memorandum ; nor even that it should be written,
instead of printed on the bill of parcels, if there is
any evidence to show a recognition of the printed
form. The leading cases upon which I rely, upon
these points, are, Egerton v. Matthews, 6 East,
307 ; Champion v. Plummer, 1 Bosanquet and
Puller, 254; Schnieder v. Norris, 2 Maule and
Selwyn, 286; and Elmore v, Kingscote, 8 D. and R.,
343. I do not extract these cases, because, ex-
cepting the last, they have no immediate reference
to the subject of horse-dealing: the memorandum
must be signed, either by the parties, or by their
agents lawfully authorized ; an auctioneer is a
lawfully authorized agent of both parties, but the
memorandum which he makes of the sale must be
a sufficient memorandum, answering the description
which I have already given. It is not necessary
that the agent should possess an authority in writ-
ing ; it is quite sufficient if his authority to act is
sustained by the circumstances in which he is
placed, or the verbal instructions given to him by

235

his principal. The nature of an agent's authority,
and the manner in which he may be constituted,
will appear more fully hereafter, when I advert to
the subject of warranty.

On all these points, it will be prudent to refer to
the case of Coles v. Trecothick, 9 Vesey, 234 •
where a very laboured judgment has been given
by Lord Eldon, upon the construction of the sta-
tute of frauds, in reference to the agency of an
auctioneer, and generally to the authority of an
agent to sign a memorandum within the statute :
Coles V. Trecothick is considered a leading case.

There is only one topic remaining connected
with the original making of the contract, to which
I propose to allude.

It is much to be regretted that in the case of
horse-dealing, more perhaps than in any other of
the ordinary transactions of life, the decorum of
the sabbath is violated ; and I must acknowledge
with sorrow, that I have too often had occasion
personally to witness this fact. The purchase of a
horse is as often considered a matter of amusement,
as one of business ; and Sunday being an idle day,
when young men are generally on the look-out for
amusement, a lounge in a dealer's stables is a
common resource : this may be noticed particu-
larly at Tattersall's -, the horses, it is true, are not

236

shown upon that day, not even in the stables, till
after divine service ; but about two or three o'clock
the stables are frequented by a great many people
with a view to prepare themselves for the auction
on Monday. In a minor degree, the same custom
obtains in the dealer's yard, especially at the west
end of the town ; and no doubt many bargains are
made on these occasions. If it were for no other
abject than to check a system which is justly
offensive to public feeling, I should quote the fol-
lowing case, from which it appears as w^ell that a
sale of goods by a dealer in the ordinary course of
trade, is void if made upon a Sunday, as that it is
valid if made by private individuals out of their
ordinary course of business.

1 Taunton, 131, Drury v. De Fontaine. — "A sale
of goods not made in the exercise of the ordinary
calling of the vendor or his agent, is not void at
common law, or by the statute 29 Char. II. cap. 7."

The plaintiff, a banker, sent his horse to Hull's
commission and auction stables for sale : the de-
fendant called on a Sunday, and having tried the
horse for an hour, requested leave to show it to one
M^Kenzie. Leave was given, on condition of
bringing back either the horse or £100 by two
o'clock : if not returned by that hour, the horse
should be the defendant's. It was not returned

237

till eight, when Hull refused to receive it: the
question for argument was, whether the sale was
void, being made on Sunday. Mansfield, C. J.,
" The bargaining for, and selling horses on a Sunday
is certainly a very indecent thing, and what no
religious person would do: but we cannot discover
that the law has gone so far as to say, that every
contract made on a Sunday shall be void, althouc^h
under these penal statutes, if any man in the
exercise of his ordinary calling should make a
contract on the Sunday, that contract would be
void. The horse was not sent to Hull for the pur-
pose of private sale, but to be sold by auction ;
therefore Hull did not sell this horse, properly
speaking, as a horse-dealer. The sale of horses by
private contract was not Drury's ordinary calling^,
nor was it Hull's."

In Fennel v. Ridler, 8 D. and R. 204, it was
decided that the statute 29 Char. II. cap. 7, for-
bidding the exercise of ordinary callings on Sunday,
apphes to private as w^ell as to public contract ;
and therefore, that a horsedealer cannot maintain
an action upon a private contract for the sale and
warranty of a horse, if made on a Sunday; it was
held however, in an earlier case, of Bloxsome f.
WiUiams, 5 D. and R. 82, that in an action on the
warranty of a horse, the defendant could not be

238

allowed to set up in answer thereto, that he was a
horse-dealer, and sold the horse on a Sunday, con-
trary to the provisions of the statute, for of course
a man cannot set up his own wrong doing, as a
defence in a court of law : but in this case it is to
be noticed that the buyer was not aware of the
profession of the dealer.

It must be borne in mind, that although the
contract may be void by reason of its being made
on a Sunday, yet if a purchaser makes a subse-
quent promise to pay, the value of the horse may
be recovered, not upon the original contract, but
on the subsequent undertaking : Williams v. Paul,
4 M. and P. 532.

Another general rule of law is, that no title can
be made to stolen property, and that no contract is
valid, founded upon fraud.

In Lofft's Reports, 601, it is decided that trover
will not lie for goods which upon the facts proved,
appeared to have been feloniously taken ; and in
Grimson v. Woodfall, 2 Carrington and Payne,
page 41, it was further decided, that if a party has
good reason to believe that his goods have been
stolen, he cannot maintain trover against the person
who bought them of the supposed thief, unless he
has done every thing in his power to bring the thief
to justice ; but these cases do not take away the

239

loser's right to obtain restitution of his goods; for
that right of restitution, where the thief is prose-
cuted to conviction, is secured by an Act of Parlia-
ment, 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 11.

They only affect that right in the absence of a
prosecution. By the Act of 7 and 8 Geo. IV. cap.
29, § 57 (commonly called Peel's Act), it is pro-
vided, that in the case of offences committed under
that act, if the thief or receiver of stolen property
shall be indicted and convicted by the owner, the
court may order restitution of the property to the
owner in a summary manner, except in the case of
negotiable instruments ho7ia Jide taken without
notice, and for valuable consideration ; there is
however, an important distinction to be noticed as
regards the power of enforcing restitution, even
where the thief has been prosecuted to conviction ;
in such a case, the owner may enforce restitution
from any party in whose possession he actually
finds the goods ; vide Packer v. Gillies, 2 Camp-
bell, 336 (note). And in one case in Koy's Re-
ports, 128, the owner recovered from the defendant
the proceeds of the stolen goods ; but he cannot
enforce restitution from a party who has bought
the goods in market overt, and resold them before
the thief was convicted ; not even though the pur-
chaser had notice of the robbery : this doctrine is

240

laid down, after elaborate argument, in Horwood
V. Smith, 2 Term Reports, 750.

In a case where goods had been obtained, not
by felony but by fraud, and' then had been pawned
by the swindler, it was held that notwithstanding
a prosecution to conviction, and although the owner
had recovered possession of bis goods, the pawn-
broker could recover against him the money which
he had lent ; vide Parker v. Patrick, 5 Term Re-
ports, 175. In the case of stolen horses, however,
there is some difference, occasioned by two statutes
which have been expressly made on the subject;
the first of these is the 2 and 3 Philip and Mary,
c. 7, which regulates the manner in which horses
are to be sold in fairs and markets, and requires
a note to be made of all horses so sold ; the other
statute is the 31st Ehzabeth, cap. 12, which re-
quires that the sellers of horses in fairs and markets
shall be known to the toll-taker, or some othei
who will account for the sale; which, with the
price, is to be entered in the toll-book, and a note
given to the buyer, otherwise the contract is void :
and by the 4th section of this act, notwithstanding
the previous directions shall have been duly ob-
served, the owner's property in the horse is not
divested for six months after the sale, and he may
recover it by the order of a magistrate upon pay-

241

ment to the purchaser of so much money as he bona
fide gave at the fair. Thus stolen horses may be
recovered even after a sale in market overt, and
that by a summary process before a magistrate,
and they so far differ from other stolen goods. It
is right to be a little more specific in explaining
the regulations which the statute requires to be
observed. First, the horse must be exposed openly
in the place used for sales for one whole hour,
between ten in the morning and sunset, and after-
wards brought by both vendor and vendee to the
I book-keeper of the fair or market : secondly, toll
I must be paid, if any due, and if not, one penny to
the book-keeper, who shall enter the price, colour,
and marks of the horse, with the names, additions,
i and abode of the vendor and vendee : and if the
vendor is not known to the book-keeper, the vendor
shall bring one credible witness to avouch his
knowledge of the vendor, whose name in like
manner is to be entered.

If the horse is stolen, the owner must make his
claim within six months, and must prove his pro-
perty and tender the price paid, within forty days
from making the claim.

Not many cases appear to have arisen upon the
construction of this act, but there is one, Josephs
V, Adkins, 2 Starkie, 76, which deserves mention.

242

It was here decided by Lord Ellenborough, that
" a magistrate has no power under the statute of
EHzabeth, to cause a stolen horse to be re-delivered
to the owner, unless proof of the actual theft be
first given; and also, that although a constable
may be armed with a warrant against the thief, he
is not justified in taking the horse out of the
possession of another party, who had bona fide
purchased him from the thief."

We have now to consider the important subject
of warranty.

Warranty is of two kinds, express or implied.
On the bargain and sale of goods, the general
maxim is caveat emptor : that is, the law will not
hold the seller answerable for the goodness or
soundness of the article sold, unless he expressly
warrants it to be g:ood or sound. And by the
general rule, such warranty cannot be implied from
the mere circumstances under which the sale took
place; such as the amount of the price paid, &c.
There are some cases, nevertheless, in which a
warranty will be implied with respect to the quality
of the article ; and it may be laid down in general,
that where an article is asked for, to answer a par-
ticular purpose, the seller impliedly warrants that
it is fit for that purpose ; more particularly, if the
case be such, that the buyer has not had an

243

opportunity of judging for himself with respect
to the sufficiency of the article sold. Thus, in
Bluett V. Osborne, 1 Starkie, 384 ; it will be
noticed that though fraud formed no part of the
case, yet Lord Ellenborough's opinion was deci-
dedly expressed, and in the ensuing term, the court
refused a rule nisi for a new trial.

Bluett V. Osborne, 1 Starkie, 384. — " A sells to
B a bowsprit, which, at the time of sale, appears
to be perfectly sound, but which after being used
some time, turns out to be rotten : in the absence
of fraud, A is entitled to recover from B, what the
bowsprit was apparently worth at the time of
delivery."

Lord Ellenborough : — " A person who sells im-
pliedly warrants, that the thing sold shall answer
the purpose for which it is sold. In this case, the
bowsprit was apparently good, and the plaintiff
had an opportunity of inspecting it ; no fraud is
complained of, but the bowsprit turned out to be
defective on cutting it up : I think the defendant
is liable, on account of the subsequent failure.
In the case cited, what the plaintiff deserved was
the value of the building ; what he deserves here,
is the apparent value of the article at the time of
delivery."

It is right, however, to collate this case with a
r2

244

previous decision of the same judge, in the case of
Fleming v. Simpson, which will be found in a note
1 Camp. 40, though the cases are clearly distin-
guishable.

I will further illustrate this principle, by a simple
case. If a man applies to a dealer for a horse to
draw his carriage, and the dealer sells him a horse
unused to harness, and consequently unsafe, the
dealer is liable for the breach of his implied war-
ranty, and for all damages sustained in consequence;
hence the purchaser might not only recover back
the price which he had paid, but compensation for
any injury done by the horse to his carriage, or
his person.

But this kind of implied engagement relates to
the fitness of the article for its purpose, rather than
its goodness or soundness. Besides, it is not often
practicable to give satisfactory evidence of the
exact intercourse between the parties on the sale of
the goods, especially in the case of horses ; hence,
a purchaser is generally unwilling to be satisfied
with an implied engagement, depending on the
vendor's knowledge of the purpose for which the
animal is required. He therefore exacts an express
undertaking as to the quality of soundness, and
such an undertaking is called a warranty.

Though the word " warranty" applies to such

245

undertakings in all cases, it is a phrase most com-
monly used in horse-dealing transactions.

It is clearly established, more particularly in the
case of horses, that a warranty of soundness cannot
be implied, but that, in order to make the seller
Uable for unsoundness, he must have given an
express warranty. It is, however, to be observed,
that if the seller makes tny representation as to
the horse, (though it be not intended as a warranty,)
and that representation be false, he is liable in
i damages for the fraud ; and the buyer is not bound
to keep the horse, the contract being void, ab initio,
for the fraud : but the seller is liable in these cases
only ; and therefore my readers will collect, that
in buying a horse, they ought to take an express
warranty of soundness, or they will othervdse be
without remedy if the horse proves unsound, unless
they can prove representations fraudulently made ;
and the same remarks apply to age, freedom from
vice, &c., and generally to all the horse's qualities.
I propose to classify the cases to which I shall
refer under the three heads that I have mentioned,
Implied Warranty — Fraudulent Representation —
and Express Warranty. Some of them however,
will be perceived to have an indirect bearing upon
either subject ; and some will appear a little con-
flicting with each other. My object being to

246

mention exiery case^ that I can find connected with
the subject of horse-deahng, I think it better to
omit none, even at the hazard of involving my
readers in some uncertainty as to the result. My
own opinion I have already given, and it has been
formed on an attentive perusal of the whole.

On the subject of implied warranty, the first
case to which I shall refer is the case of Hern v.
Nicholls, 1 Salk. 289, where an action was brought
on the sale of silk, which was sold- as silk of a
particular sort, which it was not ; though the deceit
was not practised by the defendant, but by his
factor abroad, the court held him responsible for
the deceit of his factor. In 6 Taunt. 108, Laing
V, Fidgeon, the court held that " in every contract
for the supply of manufactured goods, there is an
implied term that the goods shall be of mer chant-
able character."

In Gardiner v. Gray, 4 Camp. 144, the plaintiff
had purchased twelve bags of " waste silk :" when
delivered they appeared to be of such inferior

* Some of my sporting friends who have been parties to actions
at law in horse-dealing transactions, have expressed to me their
surprise at not finding any allusion to their cases j but they must
understand that no cases are reported in our law books unless
they involve some legal question. When, therefore, I speak of
mentioning every case, I of course only mean every case which
governs the law of the subject.

247

quality that they were not saleable as waste silk.
Lord EUenborough held that the purchaser had a
right to expect a saleable article, answering the
description in the contract ; and that without any
particular warranty, it is an implied term in every
such contract. " Where there is no opportunity
of inspecting the commodity, the rule of caveat
emptor does not apply. He cannot without a
warranty, insist that it shall be of any particular
quality of fineness ; but the intention of both par-
ties must be taken to be, that it shall be saleable
in the market under the denomination mentioned
in the contract."

In Bridge v. Wain, 1 Starkie, 504, Lord
EUenborough ruled, that " if goods were sold by
the name of ' scarlet cuttings,' and so described in
the invoice, an undertaking that they were so must
be inferred ; but to satisfy an allegation that they
were warranted to be of any particular quality,
proof must be given of such a warranty ; however,
a warranty is implied that they were that for which
they were sold.''

In Shepherd v. Kain, 5 B. and A. 240, a ship
had been sold which was described in the adver-
tisement for the sale, as "a copper-fastened vessel :"
the advertisement also stated, "The vessel with
her stores, as she now lies, to be taken with all her

248

faults, without allowance for any defects whatso-
ever." The plaintiff had full opportunity of ex-
amining her ; but after his purchase it turned out
that she was not copper-fastened. The court held
that the action lay, and that the terms, " with all
faults," must mean with all faults which the vessel
might have consistently with being the thing de-
scribed.

In Fletcher v. Bowsher, 2 Starkie, 561, the
ship was also to be taken with all faults ; but the
vendor had represented her to be a year younger
than she was, and was held liable for the deceit.
I quote the case principally for a dictum of Chief
Justice Abbott, " A person ought either to be silent
or to speak the truth ; and in case he spoke at all,
was bound to disclose the real fact."

In all these cases the doctrine of implied war-
ranty seems to be very intelligibly laid down ; but
in the case which I am about to quote, relating to
a sale of copper in sheets, and which, it is much to
be regretted, does not appear to have been solemnly
argued, although the same principle of warranty by
implication is partially confirmed as respects other
articles of trade, it is left uncertain as respects the
horse.

Gray v. Cox, 1 C. and P., 184. — " If a commo-
dity, having a fixed value, is sold for a particular

249

purpose, and it turns out unfit, an action lies,
though there has been no warranty."

Abbott, C. J. on the trial : '' I think at present
it is not a case for a nonsuit. My direction to the
jury will be on the case as it now stands, that
where a commodity having a fixed price or value,
which distinguishes this from the case of a sale of
a horse, which has no fixed value, — where, I say,
such commodity is sold for a particular purpose, it
must be understood that it is to be reasonably fit
and proper for that purpose ; and when I say, rea-
sonably fit and proper, I mean that a few defective
sheets will not show that it is not fit and proper.'^
The verdict was for the plaintiff", ^nd a rule nisi
was obtained for a new trial. On the argument
Mr. Justice Littledale observed, that " the case of
Chandelor v. Lopus (hereafter quoted) went much
too far." The case was reserved for further argu-
ment ; but I cannot find that the argument was
ever resumed. I apprehend the meaning of a
horse wanting a " fixed value," simply to be that
its value is arbitrary, and not fixed by any given
standard.

In Prosser v. Hooper, 1 Moore, 106, "The
plaintiff* bought saff'ron of an inferior quality, which,
having kept six months and sold part, he then
objected that the article was not saflfron. Held in

250

an action, for a breach of warranty, that from the
length of time and the inferior price given, it was
such an article as the plaintiif intended to purchase."

The warranty was merely that the sale-note
called the article sold by the name of " saffron."
Vide also Jones v. Bright, 3 M. and P. 155.

This case of Prosser v. Hooper, may perhaps
have given rise to the erroneous but common
opinion hereafter mentioned, that a low price
necessarily implies that no warranty is given.

I shall quote a few more cases which, while they
sustain the doctrine of implied warranty, explain the
nature of the liability incurred by fraudulent repre-
sentation, being the second division of my subject.

In Hellish v. Motten, Peake Cas. 156, "The
seller of a ship is bound to disclose to the buyer
all latent defects known to him."

The ship was purchased with all faults; on
taking out her ballast it was discovered that
twenty-two of her futtocks were broken. It was
contended that the rule of caveat emptor applied.

Lord Kenyon : " There are certain moral duties
which philosophers have called duties of imperfect
obligation, such as benevolence to the poor, and
many others, which courts of law do not enforce.
But in contracts of all kinds it is of the highest
importance that caurts of law should compel the

251

observance of honesty and good faith." " The
terms to which the plaintiff acceded, of taking the
ship with all faults, and without warranty, must
be understood to relate only to those faults which
the plaintiff could have discovered, or which the
defendants were not acquainted with."

But in Baglehole v. Walters, 3 Camp. 154,
Lord Ellenborough held that " if a ship be sold
with all faults, the seller is not liable to an action
in respect of latent defects which he knew of
without disclosing at the time of sale, unless he
used some artifice to conceal them from the pur-
chaser;" and this case is recognized in Pickering
V. Dowson, 4 Taunt. 779 ; also in Dawes v. King,
1 Starkie, 75, it is further held, that the deceit of
the defendant must be used for the purpose of
throwing the plaintiff off his guard.

In Scheider v. Heath, 3 Camp. 506, Sir J.
Mansfield held that " the vendor could not avail
himself of a similar stipulation if he knew of secret
defects in her, and used means to prevent the pur-
chaser from discovering them, or made a fraudulent
representation of her condition at the time of sale."

In Parkinson v. Lee, 2 East, 314, which was an
action respecting the sale of hops by sample, Mr.
Justice Grose observed, " If an express warranty
be given, the seller will be liable for any latent

252

defect, according to the old law concerning warran-
ties. But if there be no such warranty, and the
seller sells the thing such as he believes it to be,
without fraud, 1 do not know that the law will
imply that he sold it on any other terms than what
passed in fact. It is the fault of the buyer that he
did not insist on a warranty; and if we were to say
that there was, notwithstanding, an implied war-
ranty arising from the conditions of the sale, we
should again be opening the controversy which
existed before the case in Douglas." Before that
time it was a current opinion that a sound price
given for a horse was tantamount to a warranty of
soundness ; but when that came to be sifted, it was
found to be so loose and unsatisfactory a ground
of decision, that Lord Mansfield rejected it, and
said that there must either be an express warranty
of soundness, or fraud in the seller, in order to
maintain the action ; and Mr. J. Lawrence ob-
serves, " In 1 Rolls Abridgment, p. 90, it is said,
that if a merchant sell cloth to another, knowing
it to be badly fulled, an action on the case, in nature
of deceit, lies against him, because it is a warranty
in law. But there is no authority stated to show
that the same rule holds, if the commodity sold
have a latent defect not known to the seller ; so
again the case is there put, if a man sell me a horse

253

with a secret malady, without warranting it to be
sound, he is not liable ; that is, if there be no fraud.
The instances are familiar in the case of horses.
It is known that they have secret maladies which
cannot be discovered by the usual trials and in-
spection of the horse — therefore the buyer requires
a warranty of soundness in order to guard against
such latent defects. Then how is this case different
from the sale of a horse, where it is admitted that
the buyer must stand to all such latent defects ? "

There are a few cases in which the doctrine ap-
pears to be held that representation simply and
without fraud, amounts to w^arranty. That doctrine
is not, how^ever, recognized ; but I will quote the
authorities in favour of it : —

In the case of Tapp v. Lee, 3 Bosanq. and
Puller, 367, a doctrine of Lord Kenyon's is quoted,
that he did not think the proof of fraud necessary ;
but was of opinion, that if a man made an asser-
tion without sufficient ground, whereby another was
injured, he rendered himself liable to an action.

In Wood V. Smith, 4 Carrington and Payne, 45,
Mr. Justice Bayley held that " whatever a person
represents at the time of a sale is a warranty."

Also in the case of Hellyer v. Hawkes, 5 Es-
pinasse, 72, the answer given to the inquiry whether
the horse was free from vice, was simply in the

254

affirmative, unattended by circumstances of fraud ;
yet no question appears to have been raised whether
this amounted to a warranty.

On the other hand it is undoubtedly laid down
as an established point, in many instances, that
fraud is the gist of the action ; and this being the
state of the law, I must caution my readers that
they cannot safely rely upon a remedy on a war-
ranty in the nature of a representation, even where
it proves to be a misrepresentation of facts ; unless
they have it in their power to show that it was made
with a knowledge of its falsehood, and conse-
quently falls under the legal definition of fraud :
and on this point the authorities are innumerable.

In the case of Chandelor v. Lopus, already men-
tioned, it was decided, that the action of trespass or
the case, for selling a jewel, affirming it to be a bezai
stone, will not lie where in fact, it is not a bezai
stone; unless it be alleged that the defenda.nt knew
it was not a bezar stone, or that he warranted it
was a bezar.

Another case, to the like effect, is that of Roswuel
V. Vaughan, in Croke, James, 196.

The case of Pasley v. Freeman, is the leading
case upon this subject ; and of the more value,
because Mr. Justice Grose differed from his bre-
thren in opinion. . It is to be found in 3 Term

i

255

Reports, 51 ; and it will be observed, that it goes
so far as to make a third party liable for fraudulent
deceit, even though he derives no benefit, and even
though there is no collusion between that third
party and the vendor.

" A false affirmation made by the defendant, with
intent to defraud the plaintiff, whereby the plain-
tiff receives damage, is the ground of an action
upon the case in the nature of deceit. In such an
action, it is not necessary that the defendant should
be benefited by the deceit, or that he should collude
with the person who is."

In vindicating his opinion, Mr. J. Grose says,
" Suppose a person present at the sale of a horse,
asserts that he was his horse, and that he knows
him to be sound and surefooted, when in fact, the
horse is neither the one nor the other, according
to the principle contended for by the plaintiffs,
an action lies against the person present, as well
as the seller ; and the purchaser has two secu-
rities." Mr. Justice Grose put this hypothetical
case, to illustrate the unreasonableness of the
principle^ that a stranger to a contract incurred a
personal responsibility to a purchaser by a false
representation in favour of the seller. The principle,
however, was nevertheless adopted by Justices
BuUer and Ashurst, and by the chief justice, Lord

256

Kenyon ; and I shall quote some of the remarks
made by Mr. Justice BuUer, because they veiy
clearly and concisely explain the principle of the
action for deceit. " I agree," said his lordship,
" that an action cannot be supported, for telling a
bare, naked lie ; but that I define to be, saying a
thing which is false, knowing or not knowing it to
be so, and without any design to inj ure, cheat, or
deceive another person. Every deceit comprehends
a lie j but a deceit is more than a lie, on account of
the view with which it is practised : its being cou-
pled with some dealing, and the injury which it is
calculated to occasion, and does occasion to another
person." His lordship then quotes some reported
cases, and proceeds, "These cases then, are so far
from being authorities against the present action,
that they show, that if there be fraud or deceit,
the action will lie; and that knowledge of the false-
hood of the thing asserted is fraud and deceit :
collusion then, is not necessary to constitute fraud.
In the case of a conspiracy, there must be collusion
between two or more, to support an indictment ;
but if one man alone be guilty of an offence, which,
if practised by two, would be the subject of an
indictment for a conspiracy, he is civilly liable in
an action for reparation of damages, at the suit of
the person injured."

257

It is also to be noticed in this case, that the
period of time when the warranty is given, is held
to be immaterial, if the sale is made on the faith of
it. ^^ And if the w^arranty be made at the time of
sale, or before the sale, and the sale is upon the
faith of the warranty, I can see no distinction be-
tween the cases," says Mr. Justice Buller.

The authority of this case was confirmed in
Eyre v. Dunsford, 1 East, 318.

The case of Parkinson v. Lee, 2 East, 314,
already quoted, distinctly confirms the case of
Chandelor v. Lopus ; and puts the action of deceit
upon very intelligible ground, especially in the
instance of horse-dealing.

Again, in the case of Vernon v. Keys, 12 East,
637, Lord Ellenborough remarks : " A seller is
unquestionably liable to an action of deceit, if he
fraudulently misrepresent the quality of the thino-
sold to be other than it is, in some particulars which
the buyer has not equal means with himself of
knowing : or, if he do so in such a manner as to
induce the buyer to forbear making the inquiries
which, for his own security and advantage, he would
otherwise have made."

In 6 Vesey, 174, Evans v. Bicknell, Lord Eldon
recognises the authority of Pasley v. Freeman.
After alluding to the case, his lordship remarks,
s

258

" It is a very old head of equity, that if a represen-
tation is made to another person, going to deal in
a matter of interest upon the faith of that repre-
sentation, the former shall make that representation
good, if he knows it to be false."

In a manuscript case of Springwell v. Allen,
referred to in a note on the case of Williamson c.
Allison, in 2 East, 448, where an action was brought
against Allen, for selling to Springwell the horse
of A B, as his own ; the plaintiff could not prove
that the defendant knew the horse to belong to
A B, and was nonsuited. " For the fraud is the
gist of the action, where there is no warranty, foi
there the party takes upon himself the knowledge
of the title to the horse, and of his qualities."

The following case draws a distinction betweer
representation of facts notoriously beyond the
knowledge of the seller, and facts which he can-
not but know,

Jewdwine v. Slade, 1 Esp. Cas. 572. — An actior
was brought on the warranty of two pictures
bought by the plaintiff, which the defendant had
represented as the works of Claude Lorraine and
Teniers. Lord Kenyon held that the action was
not maintainable unless the defendant knew that
the pictures were not the works of those masters :
for by a representation of a fact Hke this of which

259

the defendant could have no certam knowledge,
he must be understood as speaking to his belief
only.

My readers may also refer to the cases of Budd
V. Fairmaner, hereafter quoted, and Dunlop v.
Waugh, Peake's Rep. 167. The last case is as
follows :

" If a man, not knowing the age of a horse, but
having a written pedigree which he received with
him, sell him as a horse of the age stated in the
pedigree, at the same time stating he knows nothing
of him but what he has learned from the pedigree,
he is not liable to an action when it appears that
the pedigree is false."

It should be observed that the mark was out of
the mouth, and the horse proved to be fourteen.

Lord Kenyon was " clearly of opinion that this
was no warranty : the defendant related all he
knew of the horse, and did not enter into any
express undertaking that the horse was of the age
stated in the pedigree, but stated the contents of
that pedigree, which the plaintiff relied on."

These cases contain all the law on the subject of
fraudulent misrepresentation; but it is necessary,
however, for the purchaser to be careful that, if he
makes any contract for the purchase of the horse
which is reduced to writing, after the negotiation for
s2

260

it is over, there should be introduced into the written
contract all representations previously made of the
horse's qualities ; for if he fails to do this, he will
be bound by the written contract ; and he will not
be at liberty to bring his action for deceit on the
verbal representations previously made. The fol-
lowing case is a leading authority upon this point,
and it is the more important because it clearly illus-
trates the real meaning of the legal maxim, caveat
emptor ; but it must be received with reference to
the case of Kain v. Old, 4 D. and R. 52, which
certainly appears to be somewhat at variance with
its principle.

4 Taunton, 779, Pickering and Dowson. — " If a
representation be made before a sale of the quality
of the thing sold, with full opportunity for the pur-
chaser to inspect and examine the truth of the
representation, and a contract of sale be afterwards
reduced into writing, in whicli that representation
is not embodied, no action for a deceit lies against
the vendor, on the ground that the article sold is
not answerable to that representation, whether the
vendor knew the defects or not."

In delivering his judgment on this case, Mr.
Justice Gibbs observes, *' I hold that if a man
brings me a horse and makes any representation
wliatever of his quality and soundness, and after-

261

wards we agree, in writing, for the purchase of the
horse, that shortens and corrects the representa-
tions ; and whatever terms are not contained in the
contract, do not bind the seller, and must be struck
out of the case. In this case, if there had been
any fraud, I agree it would not have been done
away by the contract : but in this case there is no
evidence of any fraud at all : the ship is afterwards
conveyed by a bill of sale, that contains no
warranty. I thought at the trial, and still think,
that the parties were not now at liberty to show
any representation made by the seller, unless they
could show that by some fraud the defendants pre-
vented the plaintiffs from discovering a fault which
they knew to exist.''

It may be noticed generally, that although
parole evidence is inadmissible to alter or vary a
written contract, it may be received in aid of
such contract. In the case of Jeffery v. Walton,
1 Star. N. P. 267, the contract was for the hire of
a gelding for " six weeks at two guineas." The
action was brought for damages arising from
mismanagement of the horse. The written contract
was contained in a pencil memorandum made by
the plaintiff, and which he was called upon to pro-
duce by the defendant at the trial. The defend-
ant had kept the horse for twelve weeks. He

262

paid twelve guineas into court, as it would seem
for the six weeks' hire, according to the written
contract. The case, like most law cases, is so
briefly reported, that the facts are left in some ob-
scurity ; but they are sufficiently explained to get
at the point of the decision. The defendant con-
tended that it was a general hiring, under which
all liabilities of accident would fall upon the owner
of the horse : and that the contract contained in
the pencil memorandum proved only a general
hiring, and it was not competent to the plaintiff to
graft upon it any special condition. Lord Ellen-
borough however held that " the written agreement
merely regulates the time of hiring and the rate ol
payment, and I shall not allow any evidence to be
given by the plaintiff in contradiction of these
terms ; but I am of opinion that it is competent to
the plaintiff to give in evidence suppletory matter
in part of the agreement."

But where the agreement is not ambiguous in
the terms of it, but expressed in clear and explicit
words, it cannot be explained by parole evidence.
Vide Clifton v. Walmesley, 5 T. R. 567. Or to
speak more correctly, such an agreement being
clear, requires no explanation ; and parole evidence
would tend to create that ambiguity which it was
the very object of the statute of frauds to prevent,

263

in requiring, that contracts should be reduced to
writing, to give them vaUdity. To return from this
digression on the subject of evidence, it may
be inferred from all these cases, that the gist of
the action of deceit is a wilful misrepresentation,
whereby the purchaser is put off his guard, and
induced to make a contract into which he would
never have entered with his eyes open ; but it
must not be inferred that he is at liberty to release
himself from a contract on the mere plea that his
eyes were not open ; they must have been shut by
the seller, and not closed by natural infirmity.
Every man who goes into the market to buy an
article is presumably cognizant of the nature of
the article which he w^ants, as much so as the seller
is presumed to understand the article that he sells;
he cannot afterwards plead his own ignorance as
an excuse for repudiating the contract. Hence, if
a man enters the bazaar, or the manufactory, to buy
a carriage with mail boxes, and purchases one in
which the nave hoop is closed up with an iron
plate, as is the case with boxes of that description,
he cannot return the carriage because he afterwards
discovers that the axle is of the ordinary construc-
tion, unless he was expressly told the contrary.
So again, if his object is to purchase a new carriage,
and he finds that he has bought one recently painted

264

and vamped up, he cannot repudiate the contract,
unless he can show that it was sold to him as a
new one. Or once more, if he purchases an aged
horse, stale and worn-out, he cannot rescind the
contract, unless he can prove a false representation
that it was young and fresh, or that he asked for a
young horse ; and even then perhaps, as regarded
the freshness of the horse, it would be a matter on
which it would be held, that his own judgment
ought to be sufficient to guide him.

There are some instances in which the principle
of this maxim of caveat emptor applies, which are
yet more material for the purchaser to understand :
if he enters the stable to buy a hunter, a race horse,
or a dray horse, he must judge of the suitableness
of the animal for his purpose at his own peril ;
unless, according to the previous doctrine of implied
warranty, he distinctly and unequivocally avows
his object. The ignorance of horse-purchasers
is frequently so great, that they assume every
animal with four legs and a tail, to be capable of
every employment to which horses, as a class,
can be applied. This is a great mistake, as I have
already shown in my earlier pages ; but the mis-
take is yet more serious, where a purchaser, or a
grasping attorney, ventures into a court of law to
remedy it.

265

A purchaser has no remedy in a case like this,
unless he can clearly prove on the part of the
seller, misrepresentation in the nature of deceit,
after an unequivocal explanation of the object for
which the horse is wanted. There are yet other
and familiar instances, in which the rule of caveat
emptor applies ; a purchaser may honestly avow to
the dealer that he wants a hunter, or a gig-horse ;
according to my doctrine, the dealer is bound to
sell him a horse that has been accustomed to
huntings or to draught, at the peril of an action for
deceit ; but this obligation is easily satisfied. The
purchaser may probably suspect, from the size of
the horse, or from his sluggishness, or other circum-
stances, that he is not qualified for the intended
work; the dealer replies, speaking of course ex
cathedra, "Oh, sir, that is no objection to a horse
for the field ; many a little horse will top a fence
that he cannot put his nose over, or go well in
harness, that is sulky in the saddle."

Now observations of this kind amount to nothing
more than opinion; and are therefore, however
unfounded, no fraudulent misrepresentation, and
cannot be made the ground of an action for deceit.
If the dealer said that the horse would take a
double fence, or would trot in harness twelve miles
within the hour, then an action for deceit would

266

lie, if it could be proved that he could not, and
never had done either one or the other ; yet here
again, it would be necessary to prove that the dealei
knew these representations to be false ; for if h(
was speaking, not from his own knowledge, but or
the authority of a falsehood told to himself by th(
person from whom he bought the animal, it woulc
not amount to deceit, and an action would not lie
vide Parkinson v. Lee, 2 East, 314.

It is not only the purchaser, to whom thes^
explanations will be useful ; dealers may equall;
learn from them, the infinite importance of a stric
adherence to truth, in speaking of the qualities o
their goods. Good faith is in law an essentia
requisite to the validity of a contract : and althougl
the precaution of requiring a warranty is so obvi
ous and so easy, that courts of law are muc
inclined to apply the rule of caveat emptor agains
a purchaser, it by no means follows that they wi]
look with an indulgent eye upon any misrepresen
tation made by a seller, if there is apparent indica
tion of a fraudulent purpose. A dealer should la;
it down as a maxim quite as important for him t<
observe, as it is for the purchaser, — that the les
he says the better : after naming his price, he ma;
show his horse off to as much advantage as h<
can ; he may make the most of it in every wa^

267

except by lying; but if in the presence of a witness,
he lies upon any material point to enhance the
price, and deceive his customer, he exposes himself
to litigation that may exceed in costs ten times the
value of the bargain.

Although the cases which I have quoted, are
amply sufficient to make it perfectly intelligible
what is the nature of the action for fraudulent
misrepresentation, yet, as my object is to furnish
my readers with every authority that I can find
upon horse-dealing transactions, I shall add a few
other cases that are authorities upon the subject
of fraudulent deceit.

Steward v. Coesvelt, 1 Carr. and P., 23.— "If a
horse is sold with a warranty, any fraud at the
time of sale will avoid the sale, though it is not on
any point included in the warranty."

The warranty was, that the horse was sound,
and free from vice. The defendant resisted the
action (which was for the price of the horse), on
the ground that the plaintiff had represented the
horse to be five years old, and had often been used
as a hunter. The horse was more than four, but
not five. Mr. Justice Burrough told the jury that if
there was fraudulent representation at the time of
sale, it invalidated the contract, no matter whether
it was a breach of the warranty or not. In a note

268

on this case, it is observed, that the written war-
ranty of a horse does not require an agreement
stamp, and had been admitted in evidence although
not on a stamp. This point is decided in Skrine
V, Elmore, 2 Camp. 407.

I have already alluded to the next case, but the
authority of Mr. Justice Bayley is so strong, that
I must quote the case at length.

Wood V. Smith, 4 Carr. and P., 45. — " The gene-
ral rule is, that whatever a seller represents at the
time of sale, is a warranty. A warranty may be
either general or qualified. If a person at the
time of his selling a horse say, * I never warrant ;'
but he is sound as far as I ' know ;' this is a
qualified warranty, and the purchaser may main-
tain assumpsit upon it, if he can show that the
horse was unsound to the knowledge of the seller."

It should be noticed, that the words used go
rather farther than they are above quoted in the
marginal note of the case. The defendant said,
" She is sound to the best of my knowledge : I
never warrant ; I would not even warrant myself."

It was objected that this was no warranty, but
that the action should have been for deceit ; and
Mr. Gurney relied on Williamson and Allison, 2
East, 446, and Dobell v. Stevens, 5 D. and R. 490 ;
but Mr. J. Bayley held on the motion for a rule

269

tiisij that " whatever a person represents at the
time of a sale is a warranty/'

I must express a respectful doubt whether this
dictum does not go too far.

There is a strong case on the point in 3 M. and
R., 2 : it is the case of Cave v, Coleridge, where it
was held that a " verbal representation of the seller
to the buyer in the course of the dealing, that * he
may depend upon it the horse is perfectly quiet
and free from vice,' amounts to a warranty."

I quote the following case, because, though the
circumstances of the case, as it is reported, scarcely
amount to fraudulent representation, yet Chief
Justice Best lays down the law very distinctly,
that the representation must be known to be wrong.

Salmon v. Ward, 2 Carr. and P. 211. — " In an
action on the warranty of a horse, letters passing
between the plaintiff and defendant, in which the
plaintiff writes, ^You well remember that you
represented the horse to me as a five-year-old,' &c.
to which the defendant answers, ' The horse is as
I represented it,' are sufficient evidence from
which a j ury may infer that a warranty was given
at the time of the sale ; and it is not necessary to
give other proof of what actually passed when the
contract w^as made."
' ''I quite agree," said C. J. Best, ''that there

270

is a difference between a warranty and a represen-
tation, because a representation must be known to
be wrong. INo particular words are necessary to
constitute a warranty. If a man says, ^ This horse
is sound,' that is a warranty. The plaintiff in his
letter, says, ^ You remember you represented the
horse to me as a five-year-old ;' to which the defen-
dant's answer is, *The horse is as I represented it.'
Now, if the jury find that this occurred at the time
of the sale, and without any quahfication, then II
am of opinion that it is a warranty : if it occurred
before, or if it was qualified, then it must be taken
to be a representation, and not a warranty."

It does not, however, appear to follow, that it i»j|
competent to the purchaser, at any time, to avail
himself of the objection of fraud. This position is
scarcely sustained by the first of the following
cases ; on the contrary, it seems to imply, that ij
deceit has been practised, lapse of time will noi
bar the objection; but at all events the case is in
point, as regards the principle of representation
without fraud ; and, perhaps, without any forced
construction, it will warrant the inference that neg-
ligence in promptly ascertaining fraud, will bar the
action. The case of Prosser i\ Hooper, already
quoted, ought to be closely compared with this
case on the question of time.

271

Percival v. Blake, 2 Carr. and P. 514.~"If a
person purchases an article, and suffers it to remain
on his premises for two months, without examina-
tion, and then finds it to be unfit for use, he can-
not after that length of time, avail himself of the
objection in answer to an action for the price,
unless some deceit has been practised with regard
to the article."

In this case, a letter promising payment was
written by the defendant two months after the
delivery of the goods ; and Chief Justice Abbott
thoiightthat his objection came too late, two months
being more than a reasonable time to discover the
defect, unless deceit had been practised. The
jury, however, thought otherwise, and found for
the defendant; at the same time they acquitted
the plaintiff of wilful misrepresentation.

A very recent case, however, has been decided
which is of far more consequence to all purchasers
under fraudulent representation, and if it is to be
considered law, it is of the last importance ; it is
the case of Campbell v. Fleming, 1 Adolphus and
Elhs, 40, where it is held, "that if a party be
induced to purchase an article by fraudulent mis-
representation of the seller respecting it, and after
discovering the fraud continue to deal with the
article as his own, he cannot recover back the

272

money from the seller : and it is also held, that the
right to repudiate the contract is not afterwards
revived by the discovery of another incident in the
same fraud."

I understand this case to decide, that if a pur-
chaser adopts the article purchased as his own,
after he has discovered fraud, he cannot repudiate
the contract: and therefore, that if on the dis-
covery that he has been fraudulently imposed
upon as to the age of a horse, he still retains him
as his own property, he cannot afterwards avoid
the contract for fraud, though he should subse-
quently discover that he has been similarly deceived
as to his sight. I cannot acquiesce in the reason-
ableness of this doctrine, if I rightly understand it.
Mr. Justice Park does not appear to have adverted
to this point in delivering his opinion.

It is scarcely necessary to observe that except
under circumstances of premeditated deceit, ca-
pable of clear proof, the sale of an unsound for a
sound horse is not an offence cognizable by our
criminal courts. This is established by Lord
Mansfield in the case of the King i\ Wheatley, 2
Burr. 1125: "The selling an unsound horse as
and for a sound one, is not indictable : the buyer
should be more upon his guard." My reader must
bear this in mind when I speak of deceit and

273

raudulent representation. But if the fraud is
ioncocted with dehberation and plan, I conceive
:hat it is indictable, and when several parties
concur in the design, they would be guilty of a
conspiracy, of which the criminal courts would
:ake cognizance.

My last head of the subject of warranty is much
simpler — wan'anty by an absolute undertaking
:hat the articles sold shall answer to a certain
description.

A very comprehensive definition of warranty is
^iven by very high authority. In Stuart v. Wilkins,
Doug. 20, Lord Mansfield lays it down, that " a
kvarranty extends to all faults known or unknown
:o the seller." In a certain sense this is true. A
seller may undertake that his horse is free from
every fault, or vice, or disease of whatever descrip-
tion ; and if such an undertaking is given, it falls
within his lordship's definition of a warranty.
But such warranties are gone out of fashion, and
in these times all warranties are usually limited
to " soundness," or to capabilities of a given de-
'Scription.

A warranty by an absolute undertaking is easily
understood ; it is a distinct promise that the horse
shall be capable of all work, or of a certain descrip-
tion of work, or that he shall be exempt from all

T

274

diseases, blemishes, and imperfections ; or exempt
with certain exceptions ; or that he shall be gifted
with a certain degree of speed, or other qualifica-
tions ; or be of a certain age, or not exceeding that
age : in short it amounts to this ; that certain con-
ditions being specified by the purchaser, the seller
will be liable for any difference in value, if those
conditions are not performed; but it has been
held that a warranty against visible defects is bad
in law, the purchaser being expected not only
to possess ordinary skill but to exhibit ordinary
caution.

In Dyer v. Hargrave, 10 Ves. 507, the Master'

of the Rolls said it was held at law, that a war-i

ranty is not binding where the defect is obvious..

and put the case of a horse with a visible defect :

which doctrine is also held in Bay ley v. Merrel,|

Cro. Eliz. 389, where the judge puts the case of ai

horse sold under a warranty that he has both hisj

eyes, when in fact he has but one. I

These cases would seem to have been overlooked j

by the author of the work, " The Law relating to|

Horses," when he observes that the loss of an eye

is an existing unsoundness. The loss of an eye is!

a patent defect, unless it arises from the diseasei

called " gutta serena," or a paralysis of the optio

nerve without any apparent injury.

275

But I admit that if this is good law, it certainly
would seem to apply only in such extreme cases
as the one here instanced : yet in Margetson v.
Wright, 5 M. and P., 606, it was held that a
warranty that a horse was sound wind and limb,
did not include crib-biting, because it was expressly
mentioned ; nor a splent, because it was apparent ;
vide also, 7 Bing. 603, and 8 Bing. 454.

An absolute warranty may be given either ver-
bally or in writing, subject to one or two qualifi-
cations. It has been already seen, that by the
statute of frauds there must be a memorandum in
writing, if the horse is not delivered on the spot,
either actually or constructively ; or if money is
not actually paid as "earnest:" if in pursuance of
the statute a written memorandum is made, I
think, though the cases are somewhat contradic-
tory, that it would be by far the safer course, if
not absolutely necessary, to include in the memo-
randum, the exact terms of the warranty : vide the
case of Pickering and Dowson, before quoted.

It is, as I have already observed, a general rule
of law, that where a written memorandum of agree-
ment exists, you cannot give parole evidence to
carry that agreement farther; if, however, no
memorandum has been made of the contract, the
warranty may be verbal and equally binding.
t2

276

It must also be observed, that if the absolute
warranty is at all special in its terms, as, for
instance, if it is a warranty that the horse is sound,
except as to a cough, and that it is free from blemish,
except as to one eye, or that it is free from vice, ,
except in harness, or that it will trot fifteen miles
within the hour, it is in all such cases most im-
portant that the warranty should be accurately
reduced to writing ; for every lawyer knows that
nine out of ten of the cases that come into court,
depend upon the recollection of the witnesses as to
facts.

When however, a warranty is reduced to writ-
ing, another precaution is equally indispensable, —
the stipulated terms must be accurately expressed;
the dealer on the one hand will be strictly held to
his warranty, and the purchaser on the other will
be strictly precluded from grafting any equivocal
engagement upon it.

This position is strongly illustrated in the fol-
lowing case : —

Coltherd v. Puncheon, 2 Dowling and Ryland.
— " Proof that a horse is a good drawer only, will
not satisfy a warranty that he is a good drawer
and pulls quietly in harness.''

" It is quite clear," said the court, '^ in this case
that these are convertible terms, because no horse

277

can be said to be a good drawer if he will not pull
quietly in harness, and therefore proof that he is
merely a good puller will not satisfy the warranty :
the word good, must mean good in all particulars."
This case decides that on the part of the dealer
he will be held strictly to his engagement ; the
following cases will equally prove that on the part
of the buyer, he will not be allowed to interpret
the warranty beyond its fair meaning.

In Geddes v. Pennington, 5 Dow. 159, the
warranty was that the horse was thoroughly broke
for gig or saddle, and so it was proved ; but the
purchaser being unskilful in driving, he could not
repudiate the contract for faults that in more skilful
hands, would not have been displayed ; there ap-
pears however, on the case, reason to infer, that
the faults v^^ere actually produced by the unskilful-
ness of the purchaser.

In the next case, the limits within which a
warranty must be taken, are yet more closely
defined.

Budd V. Fairmaner, 5 Carr. and P. 78. — " A re-
ceipt on the sale of a colt, contained the following
words after the date, name, and sum : ^ for a grey
four-years-old colt, warranted sound in every re-
spect.' Held that such part as related to the age
was a representation only, and not a warranty."

278

The colt proved to be only three years old : it
was stated, however, by several veterinary sur-
geons, that by four years old was sometimes
meant three off, or rising four, and sometimes,
though it is not very intelligible, four off, or rising
five ; they also said that till it was actually four it
was not suitable for a carriage horse, as which it
appeared that the plaintiff meant to use it.

On the trial Chief Justice Tindal said, " I am of
opinion that the first part of the receipt contains
a representation, and the latter part a warranty.
In the case of a representation, to render liable the
party making it, the facts stated must be untrue
to his knowledge, but in the case of a warranty,
he is liable whether they are within his knowledge
or not."

On the argument on the rule nisi, Justice Alder-
son observed, " A warranty must be complied with
whether it is material or not, but it is otherwise as
to a representation ;" and subsequently added, " If
the word ' warranted ' had been the last word, I
should have held that it extended to the whole :"
sed vide Richardson v. Brown.

The case was decided on the authority of
Richardson v. Brown, I Bing. 344, and Dickinson
V, Gapp, tried in the Common Pleas, at the ad-
journed sittings after Hilary Term, 1821, by Chief

279

Justice Dallas : Chief Justice Tindal observed,
^^ What a man warrants he must make good,
whether he knew the fact or not, but for what he
represents, if there is a latent defect, and he acts
honafide, he is not at all answerable."

The same doctrine was held in De Sewhanberg
r. Buchanan, 5 C. and P. 343. " If there was no
express warranty," said Chief Justice Tindal,
" but only a representation, then as there is no
evidence that the plaintiff did not believe that the
picture was a Rembrandt, he will be entitled to
recover the full amount of the bill."

I In Richardson v. Brown, 8 Moore, 338, where
the plaintiff brought an action to recover the price
of a horse sold under the following w^arranty — " A
black gelding, about five years old, has been con-
stantly driven in the plough — warranted ;" it was
held that the terms of such warranty applied to

, the soundness of the horse, rather than to the nature

i of his employment.

I have already adverted to the necessity of a
warranty being given previously to or cotempo-
raneously with the purchase : if given afterwards it
makes for nothing, because it is considered in law
that the purchase money having been already paid

' or promised, a subsequent warranty is without
consideration, and consequently invalid ; but

280

words subsequently used may acknowledge that a
warranty was given at the time of contract, and
the following case is quoted on that point : —

Payne against Whale, 7 East. 274.— " After a
warranty of a horse as sound, the vendor in a sub-
sequent conversation said, that if the horse were
unsound, (which he denied,) he would take it again,
and return the money. This is no abandonment
of the original contract, which still remains open ;
and though the horse be unsound, the vendee must
sue upon the warranty, and cannot maintain
assumpsit for money had and received, to recover
back the price after a tender of the horse."

This case is usually quoted as an authority on
a point of pleading, that an action will not lie for
money had and received under the circumstances
stated, but the original contract remaining in esse,
the proper remedy is by an action on the case. I
refer to it however, because the expression used
by the defendant is one frequently used by
dealers : " If the horse were unsound, he would
take it again, and return the money." There was
no other proof of the original bargain than this
conversation ; and Mr. Justice Le Blanc observed,
that it amounted to a recognition by the defendant
that he had in the first instance warranted the
horse to be sound. I may observe however, that

281

if it was a recognition of the warranty, it seems
also to have been a recognition of the bargain to
take the horse back again, and return the money
if he was unsound. I cannot, I confess, exactly
understand the distinction taken by the learned
judge, but the niceties of pleading are not always
intelligible even to the initiated.

The unsoundness in this case was that the horse
was a roarer.

I refer my readers to the case of Towers v, Bar-
rett, 1 T, R. 133, for an elaborate argument on
the question of pleading alluded to above; and the
case of Weston v. Downs, Doug. 23, and fully
quoted in Selwyn's N. P., page 98, to which case
reference is made in Towers v, Barrett, may also
be properly cited.

Another very important point, that every dealer
or seller must bear in mind, is, that a groom or
other agent employed to sell a horse, is authorized
to exercise a discretion in warranting him, and may
do so even contrary to the positive instructions of
his master, and fix his master with liability. The
following cases are very strong upon this point : —

Helyear v. Hawke, 5 Espinasse, 72. — " Where a
principal employs an agent or servant to sell for
him, what such agent says as a warranty or repre-
sentation at the time of the sale, respecting the

282 §

thing sold, is evidence against the principal, but!
not what he has said at another time."

In this case, the horse was standing at Tatter-
sail's, and had been described in the catalogue;
but before the day of sale, the defendant's groom
being there to take care of the horse, answered the
plaintiff's inquiry whether he was free from vice,
in the affirmative. The plaintiff failed to prove
the warranty, but in the progress of the cause
Lord Ellenborough remarked, " If the servant is
sent with the horse by his master, and which horse
is offered for sale, and gives the direction respecting
his sale, I think he thereby becomes the accredited
agent of his master, and what he has said at the
time of the sale, as part of the transaction of
selling, respecting the horse, is evidence ; but an
acknowledgment to that effect, made at another
time, is not so : it must be confined to the time of
actual sale, when he was acting for his master."
And in another place his lordship adds, '* I think
the master having entrusted the servant to sell, he
is entrusted to do all he can to effectuate the sale ;
and if he does exceed his authority in so doing, he
binds his master."

In Alexander v, Gibson, 2 Campbell, 555,
a servant being employed to sell a horse and
receive the price, was held to have an implied

283

authority to warrant the horse to be sound ; and
•' in an action upon the warranty, it is enough to
prove, that it was given by the servant, without
caUing him, or showing that he had any special
authority for the purpose."

Lord EUenborough: " If the servant w^as autho-
rized to sell the horse, and to receive the stipu-
lated price, I think he was incidentally authorized
to give a warranty of soundness. It is now most
usual on the sale of horses, to require a warranty ;
and the agent who is employed to sell, when he
warrants the horse, may fairly be presumed to be
acting within the scope of his authority. This is
the common and usual manner in which the busi-
ness is done, and the agent must be taken to be
vested with powers to transact the business with
which he is entrusted, in the common and usual
manner."

It is remarkable that w^hen the servant was
afterwards called by the plaintiff, he swore posi-
tively on his examination in chief, that he was
expressly forbidden by his master to warrant the
horse, and that he had not given any warranty.
Lord EUenborough, though it was objected to,
i allowed the plaintiff to contradict his own wit-
ness, and to call another to prove that at the time
of the sale, the servant declared that " the horse

284

was sound all over," and the plaintiff thereupon
recovered. So in Pickering v. Busk, 15 East, 45,
Mr. Justice Bayley says, " If the servant of a
horse-dealer, with express directions not to war-
rant, do warrant, the master is bound." In the
case of Fenn v. Harrison, 3 T. R., 757, Lord Ken-
yon holds this doctrine, and says, that the master
has his remedy over against the servant.

In Scotland (Bank) v. Watson, 1 Dow. 45, a
distinction is made between the servant of a horse-
dealer, and the servant of a person not being a
dealer, — in the latter case the servant not having
the power to bind his master, if forbidden to war-
rant. The case of Strode r. Dyson, 1 Smith, 400,
also bears on this point; as well as that of
Woodin V. Burford, 2 D. and M., 391, where an
authority to a servant to deliver a horse was held
not to extend to warranting him, though the ser-
vant signed a receipt for the price.

There is a case of Ashbourne v. Price, 1 Dow-
ling and Ryland, 48 N. P. C, in which, without
reference to the distinction made in the case oi
Scotland v» Watson, a contrary opinion appears to
be entertained ; but as the allusion to horse-dealing
was only incidental, I think it cannot be held to
overrule the authority of the last two cases.

" Where an attorney's clerk admitted, on the

285

taxation of costs before the Master, that the suit
m which the costs were taxed was conducted by
his employer from motives of charity on behalf of
the plaintiff, it was held that the clerk was
such an agent as to bind his master by such
'admission."

It was contended by Scarlett, that there was
nothing in this case to take it out of the general
rule of law, which excluded hearsay evidence ;
for in the case of an action upon the warranty
of a horse, sold by a servant for his master, the
servant's declaration of soundness w^ould not be
evidence to prove a warranty by the master. —
Chief Justice Abbot : " The case supposed was
distinguishable from the present, because there
was not, in the instance of a groom's selling a horse
for his master, that direct and positive agency
which existed on the fact of an attorney's clerk
attending to tax the costs of an action conducted
by his employer."

It is also necessary for the purchaser to take
care that his warranty is very distinctly expressed,
so as to fix a liability with certainty upon the
actual vendor; for in Symonds v, Carr, 1 Camp-
bell, 361, it was held, that if an agent for the
sale of horses sells to a man in one lot, and at one
entire price, a horse belonging to B, and another

286

belonging to C, warranting both horses to be
sound, the purchaser cannot maintain an action
against B for the unsoundness of the horse be-
longing to him (B), as upon the sale of that horse
separately, since the contract concerning the twc
horses was entire, and in declaring on a contract
it is necessary to aver the entire consideration foi
the warranty.

Having made these general remarks, which are
applicable to all warranties of an absolute cha-
racter, whether general or qualified, I will proceed
to the usual warranty ; namely, that of an absolute
undertaking for soundness ; and before I considei
the question, the all-important question, in whal
soundness consists, I will mention two cases that
refer to the abstract principle. The first is that
of Eaves v. Dixon, 2 Taunton, 343, where it was
held, that in an action on the warranty of a horse
the plaintiff must positively prove that the horse
was unsound.

The horse died a few days after the sale ; and
on dissection it was found, that the lungs were
greatly inflamed, and adhered to the ribs : the
pericardium was also enlarged. It was also proved
that the horse was apparently in health and high
condition down to the time of sale : that the dis-
order was of so rapid a nature that inflammation

287

of the lungs was known sometimes to begin and
iterminate in mortification within three days. On
the other hand, a farrier, called on behalf of the
plaintiff, imputed the sleekness of the horse's
condition to water under the skin, arising from
dropsy in the chest. On this conflicting evidence
the plaintiff succeeded at the trial ; but the court
held that he ought to have been nonsuited ; " for on
the warranty of a horse it is not sufficient to give
such evidence as to induce a suspicion that the
horse is unsound ; if the plaintiff only throws
soundness into doubt, he is not entitled to recover;
he must positively prove that the horse was un-
sound at the time of sale."

The next case is very important, not merely for
its general principle, but in reference to the mea-
sure of damages to be taken by the juiy in an
action upon a warranty; but I quote it in this
place to ground an important principle, and one
which in considering the doctrine of warranty of
soundness, is too frequently lost sight of by profes-
sional men as well as others ; namely, that sound-
ness is a question of fact for a j ury, and not of law.
In a note to this edition at page v., I have alluded
to an anonymous work pubhshed ten years ago,
on the Laws relating to Horses : the last case that
I have cited is quoted also in that work, and the

288

inference which its author draws from it, confirms
the importance of the principle which I have here
presumed to lay down. He observes that " it will
not impeach the warranty, if the purchaser can
only produce doubtful evidence of unsoundness,
even of proper judges."

That this inference is sustained by the authority
I do not deny: but in my judgment the authority
is itself questionable. That it is a question for the
court above, whether a verdict is against evidence,
no lawyer will dispute, but what is the value of
doubtful evidence is entirely a question for a jury,
assuming that the doubt is not one of admissi-
bility ; and therefore, if a jury decides that the
fact of unsoundness is established, inasmuch as
they are the judges of facts, I apprehend that
the court would not set aside their verdict merely
because the evidence was not necessarily decisive.
The following case, I think, bears me out in this
position.

Lewis V. Peake, 7 Taunton, 153. — " The sound-
ness or unsoundness of a horse, is a question pecu-
liarly fit for the consideration of a jury, and the
court will not set aside a verdict for a preponder-
ance of contrary evidence. If the buyer of a horse
with warranty, relying thereon, resells him with
warranty, and being sued thereon, by his vendee,

289

offers the defence to his vendor, who gives no
directions as to the action, the plaintiff in defending
that action, is entitled to recover the costs thereof
from his vendor, as part of the damage occasioned
by his breach of warranty."

The judgment of the comt proceeded on the
iground that the warranty of the first vendor in-
duced the second to give a similar warranty, and
having given to the first vendor notice of the action,
he was justified in going on with the defence, in-
stead of admitting the objection on the warranty,
and relying on his remedy over upon it ; as it was
contended by counsel that he ought to have done.

It should be observed, that if a seller warrants
a horse, he does so at his own peril, if the horse is
unsound at the time of sale, whether he knew it
or not. Anon. Loff. 146.

We now arrive at the awful question, what is
intended by soundness in a horse ? and though I
have just observed that this is properly a question
for a jury, I do not mean to contend that there
is not a certain legal definition of the term, by
which a jury should be directed to consider their
verdict.

In the earlier part of this book, writing in a tone
of levity more becoming the character of the topics
of which I have there treated, I have remarked
u

290

upon the contrariety of opinions upon unsoundness
as they may happen to be expressed by dealers,
farriers, or purchasers: all these parties are too
much interested in the question for their opinions
to deserve implicit confidence ; but it certainly is
much to be lamented that our courts of law have
not laid dovv^n some uniform decision upon the sub-
ject which might guide all parties to a sound dis-
cretion in considering the policy of an appeal to a
jury : it not only would save jurymen the trouble
of long and painful consideration upon the value
of evidence, but would prevent a multiplicity of
perjury in horse causes, that are now unfortunately
proverbial for it.

What then is the meaning of soundness ? When
the word is applied to a horse, we have seen that
in the case of Coltherd v. Puncheon, " good,"
means '^good in all particulars."

In quoting 1 Rolls Abridg. p. 90, Mr. Justice
Lawrence appears, we have seen, to consider
*' secret maladies" as the essential ingredient in
unsoundness.

In two cases already quoted, Elton v. Brogden
and Shillito v. Claridge, Lord Ellenborough gives
his opinion that, ^' if a horse is affected by any
malady which renders him less serviceable for a
permanency, it is unsoundness ;" and again, that

291

^ a warranty of soundness is broken if the animal
it the time of the sale had any infirmity upon him
vhich rendered him less fit for present service ;
t is not necessary that the disorder should be
permanent or incurable." The author of the
monymous work I have already quoted, defines
soundness to be in its enlarged sense " an exemp-
ion from radical constitutional defects, but in its
)ractical sense, it is construed so as to exclude
!very defect by which the animal is rendered less
it for present use and convenience." All these
iefinitions are vague, insufficient, and unsatisfac-
orv; although my anonymous friend, in his
practical construction of the term, approaches very
learly to what I consider ought to be its legal as
veil as its usual meaning.

Veterinary surgeons are sometimes equally in-
iccurate. Mr. John Lawrence, who, I believe,
,vas considered eminent in his profession, de-
ined soundness to imply, "not diseased, lame,
blind, or broken winded, nor having at the time of
sale any impending cause thereof." This defini-
tion is not only vague, for disease is itself an uncer-
tain term, but is also unintelligible.

Mr. Taplin, in his Stable Directory, asserts the
sporting definition of the word to be, " a perfect
state of both the frame and bodily health of the
I V 2

\

292

horse, without exception or ambiguity ; the total
absence of blemishes, as well as defects ; a freedom
from every imperfection, from all impediment to
sight or action."

It is obvious that this definition is almost ludi-
crously high ; the horse is in its perfect state only
in an unreclaimed condition ; and it may well be
doubted if even in a state of nature the majority
of the herd are perfect.

I have understood the opinion of Mr. Mavor, an ''
eminent veterinary surgeon, to have been given ir
a court of law, that " he considers a horse to be
sound which is perfect in structure, and perfect ir
function ; and that even where his structure is noi
perfect, that if he has never been lame, or incapa-
citated from performing his ordinary duties, no
likely to be incapacitated from performing then
with equal facility, he still is sound." =^

* I have been censured in a review of this work for the quota
tion of this opinion of Mr. Mavor's without acknowledging th.
channel through which it reached me. The reviewer, afte
alluding to a book called " The Horseman's Manual," and inti
mating that I had untruly denied a knowledge of that book, say
of Mr. Mavor's opinion, "We know it was furnished exclusivel;
to the author of * the Horseman's Manual.' " This knowledge o
the reviewer strongly implies that he is one and the same persoi
with the author of the Manual, and the soreness which he betray

293

I acknowledge that this definition, though not
quite satisfactory to my mind, is more so than any
other that I have happened to find. It ought to
be recollected, that the domesticated animal is in

at my omitting to mention that work by name, adds strength to
the suspicion. Had I availed myself of Mr. Mavor's opinions and
attempted to pass them current as my own, I should have been
guilty of great dishonesty ; but this is the first time I ever heard
tliat it was not competent to an author to quote the published
opinion of another person by name, without subjecting himself to
the charge of plagiarism !

The fact is, that I received the opinion in the first instance,
from a friend, who knowing that I was engaged on the subject of
Horse Warranty, thought it would be interesting to me. I under-
stood from him that it had been delivered in a court of law, and I
have so quoted it above. Long after my work was gone to press,
I heard of the Horseman's INIanual for the first time. I read it
with attention, and 1 found it badly arranged, very superficial,
and what is still worse, inaccurate both in the quotation and
construction of cases. I will at present quote but one instance ;
the first that occurs to me on opening the book. The author at
page 69, cites the case of Fenn v. Harrison, 3 T. R., 757, and
puts into Lord Kenyon's mouth an opinion directly opposite to
that which his Lordship pronounced; and this, not by any
accidental error of the press, but by a correct quotation of the
judicial language, and an incorrect application of it to the
subject ; thus proving to demonstration that he did not compre-
hend what he was writing about ! My object not being to criticise
the works of others, but to improve my own, I thought the most
charitable course was to omit the notice of a book that I could
not quote without censure. I have done the author no injury

294

a necessarily artificial state ; and consequently, that
all terms implying perfection, must be qualified by
reference to his acquired habits and intended use;
but if, having regard to the purposes for which he

however, for though his work seems to have been published for
nearly five years, it has not yet reached a second edition ; and I
can assure him for his comfort, that it is as little known in legal
circles as I am, thank Heaven, in the betting-room at Tattersall's.
There is another instance of amusing resemblance between the
reviewer and the author of the Horseman's Manual, which I
cannot forbear quoting. It proves them to be equally " strong
in their law." Referring to the case of Broennenburg v. Haycock,
hereafter quoted, the reviewer comments on my ignorance in
not knowing that this decision had been overruled. I confess
my ignorance, and truly grateful should I have felt to my critic,
had he enlightened it : but following the example of his friend,
the author of the Manual, who quotes two cases of Earle v.
Patterson, and Taunton v. Adams, for which he gives no
authority, my reviewer in like manner overrules Mr. Justice
Burrough's decision, and challenges my law upon his own " dis-
tin-ct recollection" of the case of Paul v. Hardwick ! ! ! He cites
no report for it ; quotes no author ; gives no abstract even of the
facts : but, on his own supreme anonymous authority, consigns
the learned judge to all the ignominy of judicial darkness ! I have
searched in vain through Harrison's index of all reported cases for
this valuable decision of Paul and Hardwick. But it is difficult to
baffle an attorney in case-hunting ! I have at length found this
case of Paul v. Hardwick. It is in Dodsley's Annual Register ! !
I need scarcely quote from an authority like this for the benefit of
my legal readers : others who only read law for amusement, will
find much more in the daily reports from the Courts of Request;

295

IS domesticated, and to the discipline both moral
and physical, to which he is subjected to qualify
him for those purposes, the horse is capable of
performing them satisfactorily, with comfort and
safety both to his owner and to himself, he should
be considered sound. It is to be observed how-
ever, that in considering this point, regard must
be had to the manner in which he is to be em-
ployed; for nothing is more common than for
the purchaser to use his horse in novel duties,
such as a gig horse for the field, or a hunter
for the road ; and this sudden change of his
accustomed habits perhaps superinduces or elicits
infirmities, or even disease, to which the horse
might long have remained a stranger had he con-
tinued in his ordinary occupation. Yet, if such
disease or infirmity shows itself, dispute about his
soundness is sure to follow.

I am much disposed to adopt Mr. Mavor's
definition, modifying it only in one particular. I
should say, that a horse is sound, if not labouring
under such disease or infirmity, or symptoms of

but n'importe, the learned critic is not only <' strong," but omnipo-
tent " in his law ;" and I bow to his learning with respect.

For his other criticisms I feel obliged to him ; some of them
have been of essential service to me, as the improvements in this
edition will show.

296

approaching disease or infirmity, as to incapacitate
him for the safe performance of all reasonable
work, of a character for which he is avowedly
purchased. If a jury is satisfied that any defect
or disease existed at the sale, or any symptom of
approaching infirmity or disease, that would inca-
pacitate him for his accustomed labour, their ver^
diet should be unsoundness.

Mr. Sewell, who has added largely to the obliga-
tions which I have already expressed to him in
my former editions, has suggested to me a means of
preventing litigation on the question of soundness,
which I think, well deserves the consideration of
influential men in the sporting world. It is now
settled in the case of blood stock, that their age
shall be dated from the 1 st of Januar3-\ This very
convenient arrangement has been effected by the
influence of the Jockey Club, and is recognized in
courts of law. Why cannot the same authority
be exerted to settle the form and construction of a
general warranty ? The difficulty appears to be, to
make the undertaking at once so general as to en-
sure due protection to the purchaser, and so specific
as not to subject the seller to speculative construc-
tion of its meaning : but I think this difficulty is
not insurmountable. A warranty as now under-
stood, protects against all defects known or un-

297

known to the seller, unless such as are specially
excepted. This is too comprehensive. Kit were
conventionally settled, that a general w^arranty
shall extend only to all defects discovered within
a given time, as a week for instance, or against all
defects incapacitating a horse for that labour for
which he was avowedly purchased, — a construction
which I should prefer, — little difference of opinion
could arise as to the horse answering such a war-
ranty. The first form of warranty would certainly
dispose of nearly all doubtful cases. The second
would render the contract between the buyer and
seller too clear and precise to leave room for any
question that a groom could not easily determine.
Such an arrangement would considerably abridge
the inquiry of a jury on every horse cause, by
reducing the issue to the simple question of the
horse's capacity for given work, whether labouring
under disease or not ; and the convenience would
be soon found so great to the public, that I have
little doubt of the courts of law inclinins; to sane-
tion such a construction of a horse warranty. The
capacity of a horse for work would of course be
in many instances a critical question j nor would
it be less so, whether the work in which the pur-
chaser had employed him, corresponded with that
for which he had avowedly purchased him ; but

298

these are facts that would scarcely admit of such
contradictory evidence, as is given in the case of
scientific opinion. Every man accustomed to
horses can at once say whether the animal can
work satisfactorily, though very few are competent
to give a correct opinion whether a horse is dis-
eased, or whether the disease is of long standing
pr of recent occurrence.

A case has just occurred to myself, that illus-
trates the utility of such a definition. I have a
mare now standing at Mr. Woodin's for sale. He
has been acquainted with her for several months,
and relying on his knowledge of her, and his
judgment in such matters, I warranted her sound
to a gentleman, who, on trial of her, expressed
himself satisfied with her paces and general ap-
pearance. He rode her a second time to Mr.
Field's, but not without disclosing his intention to
have her examined, to which I readily acceded ;
here she was condemned as lame in her off hock :
of course he declined purchasing her. Now what
is the fact ? About four months ago, she threw a
curb, of which she speedily recovered, though the
blemish remains, and was pointed out to him in
the first instance, when the warranty of soundness
was offered : so far, however, is she from being
disabled, that she has twice, within these three

299

weeks, carried me forty miles without drawing bit,
and once had a fair day with the fox-hounds ! It will
be readily supposed that I should not have thus
worked a lame horse, which I was about to sell at
the end of the season. Without distrusting the
skill of Mr. Field, for whom I have a sincere
respect, I place more confidence in Mr. Woodin's
opinion, confirmed as it is by my own experience
of the mare. Mr. Field was misled by the blemish ;
the mare is not lame any where ; and had the only
question put to Mr. Field, been as to her capacity
for work, 1 should not have lost a purchaser, and
the purchaser would not have lost a cheap and
very useful horse : but yet I admit that a blemish
of this nature, though it is not attended with any
lameness, justified Mr. Field in advising that she
was an unsound horse, according to the usual
acceptation of the term, had I suppressed the
fact in giving the warranty, though it may perhaps
be doubted whether a curb, being a patent defect,
comes within the warranty.

It would also reduce disputes on horse warranties
materially, if special warranties were more frequently
given. Such warranties are indeed not uncommon
as it is. I have seen many with special exceptions,
as of an eye, a cough, a splent, &c. ; nor is there
any good reason why any infirmities of this kind,
scarcely affecting the price of a horse otherwise

300

sound and good, should not be openly avowed.
The only reason why they are studiously concealed,
is that ignorant buyers overrate their importance ;
but if it were customary with respectable dealers to
declare them, it would soon be felt that they were
not considered of sufficient consequence to affect
the price of a horse purchased bona fide for labour,
and not for the market.

Let a dealer enter a dozen horses at the Horse
and Carriage Registry, specially excepting such
faults as are not prejudicial to their capacity for
work, and judge whether horses thus specially
warranted are not sold with as much or more facility
than others. As the dealer's address will remain
unknown, except to a bona fide purchaser who is
indifferent as to the excepted fault, the credit of
his stables can suffer no wrong by this bold ex-
periment.

It might also be an express condition of every
warranty that the opinion of a veterinary surgeon,
to be named before the purchase, should be conclu-
sive between the parties, and the return of the horse
should be a necessary consequence of his being
thus certified to be incapable of the work for which
he was sold.

I shall now endeavour, in reference to the war-
ranty of soundness, to explain its meaning, by
quoting the cases which establish any particular

301

disease or infirmity to amount to unsoundness ;
and then I will give a short summary of all the
complaints, which as the law stands, would fall
within the term.

It would seem extraordinary that so few cases
are to be found in the books, that contain decisions
upon the question of soundness, as respects any
specific disease. When however, the principle
already quoted is remembered, that soundness is
for the jury to determine, it is obvious that special
disease can rarely fall under the consideration of
the court, except collaterally ; hence, after a close
examination of the reports, I find that the following
disorders are the only ones on which any distinct
opinion has been expressed by our judges : — roar-
ing, temporary lameness, coughs, splents, nerving,
ophthalmia, crib-biting, and hereditary disease.

Chest-founder has been assumed to be unsound-
ness, and also a swollen leg proceeding from a kick,

but not formally so decided in any recorded cases.
Roaring was held to constitute unsoundness, in

the case of Onslow v, Eames, 2 Starkie, 81.

"Roaring constitutes unsoundness in a horse."

Lord Ellenborough : " If a horse be affected by
; any malady which renders him less serviceable

for a permanency, I have no doubt that it is an

unsoundness."

302

Yet, in the following case of Bassett r. Collis, a
distinction is drawn, upon the authority of Sir
James Mansfield, who certainly was a good sports-
man as w^ell as a learned judge, between roaring
as a habit f and roaring attended by organic infir-
mity. The case just mentioned was prior in
point of date, and therefore, Onslow v. Eames is
the better authority. On the trial of the latter
cause, Mr. Field stated in evidence, that roaring
was " occasioned by the neck of the windpipe being
too narrow for accelerated respiration.'^ Bassett
V. Collis is found in 2 Campbell, 523; the following
are Lord Ellenborough's remarks : —

" It has been held by very high authority, (Sir
James Mansfield,) that roaring is not, necessarily,
unsoundness ; and I entirely concur in that opinion.
If the horse emits a loud noise, which is offensive
to the ear, merely from a bad habit which he has
contracted, or from any cause which does not
interfere with his general health, or muscular
powers, he is still to be considered a sound horse.
On the other hand, if the roaring proceeds from
any disease, or organic infirmity, which renders
him incapable of performing the usual functions of
a horse, then it does constitute unsoundness. Thd
plaintiff has not done enough, in show^ing that this
horse was a roarer : to prove a breach of the w^ar-

303

-anty, he must go on to show that the roaring was
symptomatic of disease."

If it be true, as is commonly reported, that the
celebrated Eclipse was a roarer, the complaint
Dught not to be viewed as necessarily amounting
to unsoundness, unless the proximate cause of it is
proved to be organic disease.

Temporary lameness would appear, upon every
principle of common sense, to be unquestionable
unsoundness; and so, I apprehend, it may be con-
sidered as now decided. Yet there are contradic-
tory decisions upon this point ; and as in both
cases the j udgment of the court lays down a very
important principle, applicable to all questions of
soundness, I shall extract them fully.

The first in date is to be found in 2 Espin. Rep.
673, Garment v. Barrs -, where it is held, " a war-
ranty that a horse is sound, is not false because the
horse labours under a temporary injury from an
accident at the time the defendant warranted the
horse to be sound." The plaintiff observed that
she went rather lame on one leg; the defendant
replied, that it had been occasioned by her taking
up a nail at the farrier's, and except as to that
;lameness, she was perfectly sound.

Chief Justice Eyre: '' A horse labouring under a
temporary injury or hurt, which is capable of being

304

speedily cured, or removed, is not, for that, an un-
sound horse ; and where a warranty is made that
such a horse is sound, it is made without any view
to such an injury; nor is a horse, so circumstanced,
within the meaning of the warranty. To make the
exception a quahfication of the general warranty,
the injury the horse had sustained, or the malady
under which he laboured, ought to be of a perma-
nent nature, and not such as arose from a temporary
injury or accident."

The other case, is that of Elton v. Brogden,
4 Campbell, 281, already mentioned. ** A temporary
lameness, rendering a horse less fit for present
service, is a breach of a warranty of soundness."

Lord EUenborough : " I have always held, and
now hold, that a warranty of soundness is broken,
if the animal, at the time of sale, had any infirmity
upon him which rendered him less fit for present
service. It is not necessary that the disorder
should be permanent, or incurable ; while he has a
cough, I say he is unsound, although that may
either be temporary, or may prove mortal. The
horse in question having been lame at the time of
sale, when he was warranted to be sound, his con-
dition subsequently is no defence to the action."

Coiighy which is the usual indication of severe
cold, is unsoundness of a less equivocal character.

305

It will have been noticed, that Lord Ellenborough
alludes to it in the case of Elton v. Brogden, just
quoted. The following case of Liddard v. Kain,
9 Moore, 356, raised the question, and it may be
observed in passing, that the doctrine of a continuing
warranty, here established, is very important.

" Where the seller informed the buyer, that one
of two horses he was about to sell him had a cold,
but he ao'reed to deliver both at the end of a fort-
night, sound, and free from blemish ; and at the
expiration of the time, the horses were delivered,
but the cough on the one still continued, and the
other had a swollen leg, in consequence of a kick
he had received in the stable; and the seller
brought an action to recover the price, and the
jury found a verdict for the purchaser; the court
refused to grant a new trial, as the warranty did
not apply to the time of sale only, but w^as a con-
tinuing v/arranty to the end of the fortnight."

On the question of a cough being unsoundness,
Chief Justice Best held, thoup-h the couoh mio'ht
be a mere temporary unsoundness, yet it might
eventually produce a disease on the lungs. It
should be noticed, that Mr. Sergeant Wilde con-
tended, in this case, that the warranty did not
extend to the cough or cold, because it was an
existing and manifest defect ; and that, if a war-

X

306

ranty had been given againet an apparent defect, it
would have been void in law. This argument did
not appear to have any weight with the court.

The next case ingeniously contrives, though 1
believe without intending it, to rip open the
principle laid down by the same judge in Elton
V. Brogden, for here permanency seems to be
held essential to make a cough unsoundness ;
the case is also important in establishing another
maxim, that severe exercise of the horse by hunt-
ing, though tending to aggravate the disease, will
not discharge the seller from his liability.

It is held in Shillito v. Claridge, 2 Chitt. 425,
that " a cough, unless proved to be of quite a tem-
porary nature, is an unsoundness, and a verdict
for the defendant was held wTong, though the
horse had the next day after the warranty been
rode a huntinof."

The horse had a couoh , when it was sold.
"If it had," said Lord Ellenborough, "and the
cough was of a permanent nature, I have always ^
held that it was a breach of the warranty, and I
such has, I believe, always been the understanding,,
both in the profession and among veterinary
surgeons. On that understanding I have always'
acted, and think it quite clear."

It was argued that two-thirds of the horses in

307

London had coughs ; still Lord Ellenborough said
it was a breach of the warranty. It w as further
contended, that the plaintiff was told that the horse
had been used only on the road, and had a cough,
and that by hunting it he had aggravated the
disease.

Lord Ellenborough : " Knowledge makes no
difference. There was a case before Mr. Justice
Lawrence, in w^hich it was held ; and it was there
said that the plaintiff might rely on the warranty
only, and not choose to trust to his ow'n know-
ledge," "There is no proof that he would have
got well, if he had not been hunted."

Sphnts are, as I have elsewhere observed, of
very equivocal importance ; but I entertain no
doubt whatever in my own mind, but that they
amount to unsoundness, if they are, either from
their location, or their size, likely to impede the
action of the tendons. The only case that I can
find upon the subject is the following : —

Margetson v. Wright, 8 Bingham 454, where it
is held, that as some splents cause lameness, w^hile
others do not, a splent is not one of those patent
defects against which a warranty is inoperative ; and
also that the defendant having warranted a horse
sound at the time of the contract^ and the horse
having; afterwards become lame from the efiects of
x2

308

splent invisible when the defendant sold him, the.
defendant was liable on his warranty.

This case had been before the court on a foniie
occasion {vide 7 Bingham, 603), when it appeared
that the defendant had warranted the horse to be
sound, wind and limb, at the time of the bar-
gain, and sold it for £90 ; it was a race-horse,
which had broken down in training, and was
affected with splent, — circumstances which were
disclosed to the plaintiff, and but for which the
horse would have been worth £500. It was held
that this warranty did not import that the horse
was fit for the purposes of an ordinary horse.

This case is doubly important, because it was
also held, that defects apparent at the time of-
warranty are not included in it.

Chief Justice Tindal : " Two subjects which might
or might not have become a source of unsoundness,
namely, crib-biting and a splent, were discovered
by the parties at the time of the bargain, and
after that discussion, the warranty in question was
entered into. Now the older books lay it down,
that defects apparent at the time of the bargain
are not included in a warranty, however general,
because they can form no subject of deceit or
fraud ; and originally, the mode of proceeding on
a breach of warranty was by an action of deceit.

\

309

grounded on a supposed fraud. There can how-
ever, be no deceit where a defect is so manifest
that both parties discuss it at the time. A party
therefore, who should buy a horse knowing it to
be blind in both eyes, could not sue on a general
warranty of soundness. In the present case the
splent was known to both parties, and the learned
judge left it to the jury to say whether the horse
was fit for ordinary purposes. His direction would
have been less subject to misapprehension, if he
had left them to consider whether the horse was,
at the time of the bargain, sound wind and limb,
saving those manifest defects contemplated by the
parties. It seems to us, therefore, that the jury
may have been in some degree, misled, and that
the purposes of justice will be better attained by
sending the cause to a second inquiry."

I have before adverted to this doctrine, that
apparent defects are not contemplated by a war-
ranty of soundness,- but if it is sound doctrine,
it certainly is to be received with considerable
qualification ; namely, that the defect must be so
unequivocal as to be visible to a common observer :
except with this reserve, it is difficult to recon-
cile it with the case of Buchanan v. Parnshaw,
2 Term Reports, 745, where an action was held to
be maintainable for breach of warranty, that a

310

horse was twelve years old, when it had been repre-
sented to be only six. Now the age of a horse, if
he exceeds eight, is a patent defect; and conse-
quently, upon the doctrine laid down in Margetson
V. Wright, an action would not be maintainable
upon such a representation. There is the case
however, before mentioned, of Budd v. Fairmaner,
in 8 Bingham, 48, where the warranty being,
"Received £10, for a grey four-year old colt,
warranted sound," it was held that the action did
not lie, though the colt proved to be only three.
But to return from this digression —

A nerved horse is held to be unsound, in Best v.
Osborne, Ryan and Moody, 290.

It was proved, that horses previously lame,
would when nerved, frequently go free from lame-
ness, and continue so for years ; and that horses,
after the operation, had been employed for years
as cavalry horses, in active service.

Chief Justice Best told the jury, that it was
difficult to say that a horse, in which there was an
organic defect, could be considered sound ; that
sound, meant perfect ; and a horse deprived of a
useful nerve was imperfect, and had not that capa-
city of service which is stipulated for in a warranty.
The plaintiff obtained a verdict.

It is due to Mr. Sewell to mention, that this

311

operation of nerving was invented by him, and
great credit is due to him for the discovery: this
very case proves the value of it, when it shows
that a nerved horse is restored to such a use of his
powers, as to render it even doubtful if he may not
be 'varranted sound.

I can find no case in the law books, upon the

subject of ophthalmia ; but in the case of Earl v.

Patterson, tried at Guildhall, before Chief Justice

Tindal, in 1830, it appeared that the horse was

subject to ophthalmia, and no doubt was expressed

as to this amounting to unsoundness : the only

question at issue being, whether the disease existed

at the time of sale, or had been brought on by the

mismanagement of the plaintiff's servant.

I The vice of crib-biting was fully discussed in

Broennenburg v. Haycock, Holt, N. P. C. 630.

Mr. Justice Burroughs, before whom the cause

was tried, said that he considered it a mixed case of

law and fact. " It is," says his lordship, '^ a mere

accident, arising from bad management in the

training of the horse; and it is no more connected

with unsoundness than starting or shying."

I can find no other authority upon the point;
and as I do not know what veterinary evidence
was given on the trial, I cannot guess whether his
lordship is wrong as a lawyer, or as a farrier. I

312

have not a doubt in my own mind, that crib-biting
constitutes unsoundness, so long as the doctrine is
held to be law, that indications of approaching
disease fall under that term. A crib-biter will
never retain his condition; and a horse that will
not retain his condition, is never fit for constant
work. Veterinary surgeons are divided as to the
pathological cause of this falling off in condition,
but all are agreed upon the fact ; and 1 think it not
improbable, that the habit may affect the secretion
of the glands from which the saliva proceeds, and
thereby impede digestion.

There is a very strong case upon the subject of
hereditary disease, in 1 Ryan and Moody, 136 ; it
is the case of Joliiff v. Baudell. The following is
a marginal note of it : —

Certain sheep, apparently healthy and sound in
every respect, were sold, warranted sound; two
months afterwards, great part of them died. There
was nothing to connect the disease of which they
died with their previous condition, but it w^as, in
the opinion of farmers and breeders, an hereditary
disease, called the goggles, and incapable of dis-
covery, until its fatal appearance. It was held
that this disease was an unsoundness existing at
the time of the sale, the jury being of opinion,
that " it existed in the constitution of the sheep at
that time."

313

The case of hereditary disease is at all times
difficult to prove, as it rarely happens that a pur-
chaser can trace with accuracy the diseases of the
breeds though he may be at no loss to prove the
pedigree of his horse.

Where however, the proof of both is accessible,
it seems clear that a constitutional taint is unsound-
ness; though it may not show itself till the offspring
arrive at a certain age. We know by daily expe-
rience, that what may be called, for lack of a better
term, the moral qualities of a horse, are acquired
by inheritance, such as spirit, activity, and docility.
There appears to be no satisfactory reason why the
same principle should not obtain, as respects their
physical vigour ; especially, when we also find that
good action and speed are almost always the gift
of birth.

I have alluded to the case of chest-founder. I
find this mentioned in the case of Atterbury v.
Fairmaner, 8 Moore, 32 ; and it appears, that in
that case it was the only unsoundness upon which
the plaintiff relied ; he obtained a verdict, and the
defendant moved for a new trial, on the ground
that there was no such disease. In support of this
motion he produced an affidavit of a veterinary
surgeon, who was stated to be " most experienced,"
to prove that no such disease was known. I appre-

314

hend, that the "experience" of this gentleman
would have been doubted at the Veterinary Colleo-e.
The case however, deserves attention, because the
defendant's complaint that he was taken by sur-
prise by such a defence, was answered by an inti-
mation, that he might have acquired a knowledge
of the unsoundness on which the purchaser rehed,
by applying to a judge at chambers.

The case of Dickinson v. Follett, 1 Moody and
Robinson, 199, tried at Exeter, is an important
case upon a question of soundness of rare occur-
rence. " Mere badness of shape, though render-
ing the horse incapable of work, is not unsound^
ness." This marginal note, however, by no means
gives a correct idea of the decision. It appears
from the report that the horse's action was so
defective, that in work he cut himself before, or
interfered, as it is called. It was contended for
the plaintiff, and in my opinion correctly, that this
malformation constituted unsoundness, although at
the time of sale there might exist neither lameness
nor wound. Mr. Justice Alderson however drew a
distinction rather too fine for any body but a
lawyer : — " The horse could not be considered un-
sound in law, merely from badness of shape. As
long as he was uninjured, he must be considered
sound. When the injury is produced by the bad-

315

ness of his action, that injury constitutes the
unsoundness," and on this direction the jury found
for the defendant. This is, in other words, holding
that the existence of a cause of disease is not un-
soundness, though the disease when produced by
that cause is so. With due respect to the learned
judge, I cannot feel the distinction to be just.

In Byw^ater v. Richardson, 1 Adolphus and
Ellis, 508, hereafter quoted, inflammation of the
navicular joint is held to be unsoundness, and
justly so. I have had one horse thus affected that
has recovered, and been free from lameness for
nearly eight months ; but I believe that perfect
recovery is rare.

These are all the cases of unsoundness on which
1 can find that the courts have, directly or indi-
rectly, given an opinion. But if I am right in my
conception of unsoundness, that all incapacitating
injury or defect, having reference to the duties for
which the horse is avowedly purchased, amount
to unsoundness, I think that all the following
cases come under that description : —

Lameness, whether chronic or accidental.

Corns, whether recently extirpated or not.

Affections of the lungs, whether asthmatic,
inflammatory, or otherw^ise ; and thick breathing,
if it produces distress.

316

Spavin, enlarged joints, and any malformation
of the leg, or foot, not obvious to a common
observer, and impeding the action.

Quittor, and any ulcer, fistula, or abcess, wher-
ever it may be seated.

Glandular swellings, cough, and discharges from
the mouth or nose.

Sand-crack, or any defect in the hoof; and any
tenderness or irritability of the back, quarters, or
withers, making the saddle or harness painful.

All disease of the eyes, whether it produces
blindness or not; but if the disease has disappeared,
leaving blindness as the result, sufficiently obvious
to be visible to a common observer, I consider it
to be a- patent defect, not covered by a warranty of
soundness.

Lastly, I class with unsoundness, pertinacious
refusal of the food, because it is certain evidence
of the horse's being either constitutionally or locally j
diseased.

The question has been much mooted, whether a
horse can be returned upon a warranty of sound-
ness, or whether the only remedy open to the pur-
chaser is to bring an action for the difference of
value occasioned by the unsoundness : in other
words, whether the breach of the warranty is an
annihilation of the contract.

317

This question appears to have been decided in
the case of Gompertz v. Denton, 3 Tyrwhitt, 232 ;
where it was held, that " a buyer of a horse on a
warranty of soundness, can only recover for breach
of it in an action for damages ; and unless both
parties agree to rescind, or unless in the original
contract it was stipulated to be rescinded, if any
breach of it took place, the buyer cannot sue the
seller for money had and received, as for a failure
of the original consideration."

The case of Street v. Blay, 2 Barnwell and
Adolphus, 456, was referred to by Lord Lynd-
hurst in the case last quoted, and it is a very im-
portant case, because the doctrine of return under-
went full consideration. The plaintiff sold a horse
to the defendant for £43, with a warranty of sound-
ness ; the defendant sold it the same day to Bailey,
for £45 ; Bailey sold it the next day to Osborne ;
and Osborne sold it two or three days afterwards
to the defendant for £30. Osborne, Bailey, and the
defendant, sold it without a warranty. After it had
thus returned into the defendant's possession, he
discovered that it was unsound at the time that he
first purchased it from the plaintiff, and he offered
to return it to him. The plaintiff refused to take
it back, notwithstanding he had warranted it, and
brous^ht an action aoainst the defendant to recover

318

the price for which he had sold it to him. These
were the facts of the case, and it was held that,

" A person who has purchased a horse warranted
sound, and then sold it again, and then re-pur-
chased it, cannot^ on discovering that the horse
was unsound when first sold, require the original
vendor to take it back again : nor can he, by rea-
son of the unsoundness, resist an action by such
vendor for the price ; but he may give the breach >
of warranty in evidence in reduction of damages.

Semble : That the purchaser of a specific chattel
under warranty, having once accepted it, can, in no
instance, return the chattel, or resist an action for
the price on the ground of breach of warranty,
unless in case of fraud, or express agreement,
authorizing the return, or by consent of the vendor.

But where the contract is executory only, when
the chattel is received, as where goods are ordered
of a manufacturer, and he contracts to supply them
of a certain quality, or fit for a certain purpose,
the vendor may rescind the contract if the goods
do not answer the warranty, provided he has not
kept thera longer than w^as necessary for the pur-
pose of trial, or exercised the dominion of an owner
over them, as by selling them."

In delivering his judgment on this case, Lord
Tenterden adverted to the case of Curtis v. Hannay,

319

3 Esp. N. P. C. 83, where Lord Eldon is reported
to have said, " that he took it to be clear law, that
if a person purchased a horse which is warranted
sound, and it afterwards turned out that the horse
was unsound at the time of the warranty, the buyer
might, if he pleased, keep the horse, and bring an
action on the warranty, in which he would have a
right to recover the difference between the value of
a sound horse, and one with such defects as existed
at the time of the warranty ; or he might return
the horse and bring an actioUj to recover the full
money paid; but in the latter case the seller had
a right to expect that the horse should be returned
in the same state he was when sold, and not, by
any means, diminished in value ;" and " that if
it were in a worse state than it would have been,
if returned immediately after the discovery, the
purchaser would have no defence to an action for
the price of the article." " It is to be implied,"
Lord Tewterden remarks, ^' that he would have a
defence in case it were returned in the same state,
and in a reasonable time after the discovery. This
doctrine has been adopted in Mr. Starkie's excel-
lent work on the Law of Evidence, part IV.,
p. 645 ; and it is there said, that a vendee may,
m such a case, rescind the contract altogether, by
returning the article, and refuse to pay the price,

320

or recover it back if paid. It is however, ex-
tremely difficult, indeed impossible to reconcile
this doctrine v^^ith those cases in which it has been
held, that where the property in the specific chattel
has passed to the vendee, and the price has been
paid, he has no right upon the breach of the war-
ranty to return the article, and revest the property
in the vendor, and recover the price as money
paid on a consideration which has failed ; but
must sue upon the warranty, unless there has been
a condition in the contract authorizing the return,,
or the vendor has received back the chattel, and
has tliereby consented to rescind the contract, or has i
been guilty of a fraud, which destroys the contract!
altogether — See Weston v. Downes, 1 Doug. 23;;
Towers t\ Barrett, 1 T. R. 133; Payne v. Whale,-
7 East, 274; Power v. Wells, Douglas 24 n.;;
and Emanuel v. Dane, 3 Camp. 299, where thei
same doctrine was applied to an exchange with the
warranty, as to a sale, and the vendee held not to i
be entitled to sue in trover for the chattel, by way
of barter for another received. If these cases are
rightly decided, and we think they are, and they
certainly have been always acted upon, it is clear
that the purchaser cannot, by his own act alone, ,
unless in the excepted cases above mentioned, I
revest the property in the seller, and recover the

t

321

price when paid, on the ground of the total failure
of consideration : and it seems to follow, that he
cannot, by the same means, protect himself from
the payment of the price on the same ground. On
the other hand, the cases have established, that
the breach of the warranty may be given in evi-
dence in mitigation o damages, on the principle,
as it should seem, of avoiding circuity of action
— Cormack v. Gillis, cited 7 East, 480, King v,
Boston, 7 East, 481 n. ; and there is no hardship
in such a defence being allowed, as the plaintiff
ought to be prepared to prove a compliance with
his warranty, which is part of the consideration for
the specific price agreed by the defendant to be
paid."

" It is to be observed, that although the vendee
of a specific chattel, delivered with a warranty,
may not have a right to return it, the same reason
does not apply to cases of executory contracts,
where an article, for instance, is ordered from a
maimfacturer who contracts that it shall be of a
certain quality, or fit for a certain purpose, and
the article sent as such is never completely ac--
cepted by the party ordering it. In this, and
similar cases, the latter may return it as soon as
he discover the defect, provided he has done no-
thing more, in the mean time, than was necessary

Y

322

to give it a fair trial — Okell v. Smith, 1 Stark.
N. P. C. 107: nor would the purchaser of a
commodity to be afterwards delivered according
to sample, be bound to receive the bulk which
may not agree with it ; nor after having received
what was tendered and delivered, as being in
accordance with the sample, will he be precluded,
by the simple receipt, from returning the article
within a reasonable time for the purpose of exa-
mination and comparison. The observations above
stated, are intended to apply to the purchaser of a
certain specific chattel, accepted and received by the
vendee, and the property in which is completely
and entirely vested in him.

" But whatever may be the right of the purchaser
to return such a warranted article in an ordinary
case, there is no authority to show that he may re-
turn it where the purchaser has done more than was
consistent with the purpose of trial ; where he has
exercised the dominion of an owner over it, by
selling and parting with the property to another,
and where he has derived a pecuniary benefit
from it. These circumstances concur in the pre-
sent case ; and even supposing it might have been
competent for the defendant to have returned this
horse after having accepted it, and taken it into
his possession, if he had never parted with it to

323

another, it appears to us that he cannot do so
after a resale at a profit.

"These are acts of ownership wholly inconsistent
with the purpose of trial, and which are conclu-
sive against the defendant, that the particular
chattel was his own; and it may be added, that
the parties cannot be placed in the same situation
by the return of it, as if the contract had not
been made, for the defendant has derived an in-
termediate benefit in consequence of the bargain,
which he would still retain ; but he is entitled to
reduce the damages, as he has a right of action
against the plaintiff for the breach of the warranty.
The damages to be recovered in the present action
have not been properly ascertained by the jury,
and there must be a new trial, unless the parties
can agree to reduce the sum for which the ver-
dict is to be entered."

I have quoted this case at great length, because,
confirmed as it is by the opinion of Lord Lynd-
hurst, already quoted, it seems to establish the
point beyond dispute, that the purchaser of an
unsound horse cannot return him, and treat the
contract as void, unless a special condition has
been inserted in the contract that he should be
entitled to return it. I may add, however, an
additional authority, which bears upon the case,
y2

324

where such a stipulation has been made ; it is the
case of x\dam v. Richards, 2 H. B. 573, where it is
held, that though on the sale of a horse, there is
an express warranty by the seller, that the horse
is sound, free from vice, &c., yet, if it is accom-
panied with an undertaking on the part of the
seller to take the horse again, and pay back the
purchase money, if, on trial, he shall be found to
have any of the defects mentioned in the warranty,
the buyer must return the horse as soon as ever he
discovers any of those defects, in order to maintain
an action on the warranty, unless he has been
induced to prolong the trial by any subsequent
misrepresentation of the seller ; in such case, the
term " trial" means a reasonable trial.

In this case, six months had elapsed, although
vice had been speedily detected. The authority
of Fielder v. Starkin, was fully recognized by the
court.

The case of Fielder v. Starkin, to which I have
just referred, and to which Lord Tenterden alluded
in the case of Street v. Blay, is to be found in H.
Blackstone, 17 ; and as it is a leading case, and
involves another question of an important practical
character, whether it is necessary to give the seller
notice of the unsoundness, I shall quote it at length.

It was held that ^^ where a horse had been sold,

325

warranted sound, which it can be clearly proved,
was unsound at the time of sale, the seller is liable
to an action on the warranty without either the
horse being returned, or notice given of the un-
soundness."

The plaintiff had bought the mare in question,
of the defendant, at Winnel fair, in the month of
March, for thirty guineas; and the defendant
warranted her sound, and free from vice and
blemish. Soon after the sale, the plaintiff dis-
covered that she was a roarer, had a thorough pin,
and a swelled hock from kicking ; but he kept her
three months after this discovery, during which
time he gave her physic, and used other means to
cure her. At the end of three months he sold her;
but she was soon returned to him as unsound.
After she was so returned, the plaintiff kept her
till October, and then sent her back to the defendant
as unsound, but he refused to receive her. On her
way back to the plaintiff, she died, and on being
opened, it was the opinion of the farriers, that she
had been unsound for a full twelvemonth before her
death. The plaintiff had never communicated her
unsoundness to the defendant, although he had
been in frequent intercourse with him.

Lord Louo-hborouo;h observed, "Where there is
an express warranty, the warrantor undertakes that

326

it is true at the time of making it. If a horse which
is warranted sound at the time of sale, be proved
to have been at that time unsound, it is not neces-
sary that he should be returned to the seller. No
length of time elapsed after the sale, will alter the
nature of a contract originally false. Neither is
notice necessary to be given ; though the not giving
notice will be a strong presumption against the
buyer, that the horse, at the time of sale, had not
the defect complained of, and will make the proof on
his part much more difficult. The bargain is com-
plete, and if it be fraudulent on the part of the
seller, he will be liable to the buyer in damages,
without either a return or notice.'^

Mr. Justice Wilson, in delivering the same
opinion, referred to a case tried before Mr. Justice
Buller, at ISlisi Prius, where the defendant had sold
the plaintiff a pair of coach horses, and warranted
them to be six years old, while they were only four;
and it was contended, that the plaintiff ought to
have returned the horses, but held by Buller, that
the action might be supported without a return.
On turning to this case, however, which is men-
tioned by Mr. Justice Buller himself, in Towers v.
Barrett, 1 T. R. 136, the learned judge seems
to have expressed himself a little at variance with
the above doctrine, that is founded by Mr. Justice

J

327

Wilson upon this decision. He certainly ruled that
no return was necessary, but he also observed, that
if the plaintiff would rescind the contract entirely,
he must do it within a reasonable time, and that, as
he had not rescinded the contract, he could only
recover damages ; and then the question w^as, what
was the difference of value between horses of four
and five years old.

The following case of Patteshall v. Tranter, 4
Nevile and Manning, 649, is a very important case
on the doctrine of reasonable time in a case of
unsoundness. The cause was tried before Mr.
Justice Park at Hereford, 1835, and it appeared
that the defendant had sold the horse with a war-
ranty of soundness, it being at the time unsound.
Shortly after the sale, the plaintiff discovered that
the horse was unsound, but without giving notice
to the defendant, he kept it for nine months, during
which he gave it physic, and used other means to
cure it ; he had also cut its tail. He then offered
to return the horse, but the defendant refused. It
was contended that the plaintiff was entitled to
recover the difference between the value and the
price given. On these facts the plaintiff was non-
suited ; and on moving for a new trial, the old case
of Fielder v. Starkin having been quoted, and also
Adams v. Richards, (both of which have been

328

already mentioned,) and the case of Street v. Blay,
just referred to, Lord Denman observed emphati-
cally that the case of Fielder v. Starkin was not
overruled, but still the rule vs^as made absolute.
Hence it appears that even retaining an unsound
horse for nine months, and treating him as his own
property, does not exclude the purchaser from his
right to recover on the warranty. The case of
Campbell v. Fleming, which I have before quoted,
does not seem by the report to have been alluded
to in this argument. It has a bearing however,
though only collaterally, on the question in Patte-
shall V. Tranter, and will deserve attention if the
same question should recur ; though for the rea-
sons already given, I am not disposed to place
much reliance on the authority of Campbell r.
Fleming. It may be expedient on any question of
reasonable time to refer to the case of Chesterman
V. Lamb, 4 Nevile and Manning, 195, hereafter
quoted ; but the direct authority of that case only
bears on the question of damages to be recovered
in an action on the warranty.

It will not fail to be noticed, that the case of
Street v. Clay, goes farther than the cases last
quoted, as against a purchaser; not merely relieving
him from the necessity/ of a return, but actually
depriving him of the supposed right to return.

329

It seems, however, to result from the cases
which I have quoted, that even where an express
stipulation is made in the contract, that the pur-
chaser should be at liberty to return the horse, the
return must be made within a reasonable time.
The case of Mesnard v. Aldridge, 3 Esp. 271,
which was a case of sale by auction, goes farther
than this, and holds a purchaser rigorously to the
condition of a return within any stipulated time ;
the time here stipulated was two days, but the
horse was not returned till the third day, and Lord
Kenyon held that this was insufficient. The case,
however, is quoted in the books, to establish ano-
ther point ; that purchasers are bound to take notice
of conditions declared by an auctioneer to be the
usual conditions, though he does not specify them,
if they are posted up in a conspicuous place. The
case of Cellis u. Mortimer, 1 New Reports, 257,
also decides that where ^n express condition is
made as to the time of return, it must be literally
construed as regards the seller, as well as the
buyer.

I should have mentioned before the case of
Hopkins v, Appleby, 1 Starkie, 477, as a case in
point, as to a reasonable time for return, where no
express stipulation is made. Lord EUenborough
there ruled, that "where an objection is made to

330

an article of sale, common justice and honesty
require that it should be returned at the earliest
period." But if a return cannot be insisted on,
without express stipulation, as appears to be decided
in Street v, Blay, this case is, comparatively, of
little importance.

I have referred to the case of Buchanan v.
Pamshavv, though upon a different point; it was
held in that case, that if a horse sold at a public
auction be warranted sound, and six years old ;
and it be one of the conditions of sale, that he
should be deemed sound, unless returned in two
days, this condition applies only to the wairanty of
soundness.

This is a liberal construction of the rule, that
the time fixed for return must be rigorously adhered
to ; though it must be observed, at the same time,
that it was rather considered that the rule did not in-
clude the age, than, that if it had done so, it could
be relaxed. This case of Buchanan v. Parnshaw,
was distinguished from the case of a notice board
fixed up in the yard of a seller by commission, in
Best V. Osborne, 2 Carrington and Payne, 74; it
was here held, that where such a notice is fixed up
in a private yard, it was a question for the jury to con-
sider whether the purchaser bought, subject to that
notice. This last mentioned case of Best v, Osborne,

331

where it first came before the court, in 1 Carrington
and Payne, 632, deserves attention upon another
point not connected with my present subject. The
warranty had been fraudulently recovered back
from the purchaser by Osborne's son ; and the
purchaser was precluded from giving evidence of
its terms because he was unable to prove the son
to have acted as his father's agent.

A recent case is reported in 1 Adolphus and Ellis,
508, in which the obligation of the purchaser to
take notice of the condition of return posted up in
the place of sale is emphatically decided. It is the
case of By water v. Richardson. The plaintiff bought
a horse, warranted sound, by private contract
at a repository. At the time of sale there was
a board fixed to the wall of the repository having
certain rules printed upon it; one of which was,
that a warranty of soundness there given, should
remain in force till twelve on the day after the sale,
when the sale should become complete, and the
seller's responsibility terminate, unless a notice and
surgeon's certificate of unsoundness were given in
the mean time. The rules were not particularly
referred to at the time of this sale and warranty.
; The horse proved unsound, but no complaint was
made till after twelve the following day. The un-
soundness was of a nature likely not to be immedi-

332

ately discovered. Some evidence was given to show
that the defendant knew of it, and the horse was
shown at the sale under circumstances favourable
for concealing it. After a verdict for the plaintiff,
it was held that there was sufficient proof of the
plaintiff's having had notice of the rules at the time
of the sale, to render them binding on him ; also,
that the rule in question was such as a seller might
reasonably impose, and that the facts did not show
such fraud or artifice in him as would render the
condition inoperative.

The unsoundness consisted of inflammation of
the navicular joint, which of course would be less
perceptible on the soft ground, on which it appeared
that the horse was shown.

While I am on the subject of auctions, I may
allude to the importance of not being misled by anj
casual remarks of the auctioneer, or verbal assur-
ances at variance with the printed conditions of sale.
The case of Gunnis v, Erhart, 1 H. Bl. 289, is an
authority on this point, though the property sold had
no connexion with horse-flesh — it was a copyhold
estate.

The principle upon which auctions must be con-
ducted, has very little to do with the subject of horse
warranties ; yet, as they constitute the principal
market for horses, I shall refer to one or two cases:

333

ipon the right of the seller to act as the puffer of
bis goods.

In Howard v. Castle, 6 T. R. 642, it was held,
:hat if the owner of goods or an estate put up to
.ale at an auction, employs puffers to bid for him
ivithout declaring it, it is a fraud on the real bid-
lers, and the highest bidder cannot be compelled
:o complete the contract/'

This doctrine, however, is again questioned, in
:he case of Conolly v. Parsons, 3 Ves. 625, where a
distinction seems to be intended, that it is no fraud,
unless there happens to be but one real bidder.

Both these cases were quoted in that of Crowder
y. Austin, 2 Carr. and P. 208.

" The owner of a horse sold by auction, has no
right under the usual condition of a sale, that the
lighest bidder shall be the purchaser, to employ
iny person to bid for him for the purpose of
enhancing the price : and if he do so, he cannot
recover the purchase money from the buyer."

Chief Justice Best expressed himself clearly of
opinion, that the action could not be maintained ;
he considered it a gross fraud, and nonsuited the
plaintiff. A rule nisi was afterwards obtained, to
set aside the nonsuit ; when the case of Howard
V. Castle, 6 T. R. 642, was quoted, and also the
opinions of Lord Rosslyn, in Conolly v. Parsons,

334

3 Ves. Jr. 625 ; and of Lord Alvanley, in Bramley
V. Alt, considering Howard v. Castle as only a
decision, that where all the bidders, except the
purchaser, are puffers, the sale shall be void. On
moving for the rule nisif three of the court expressed
themselves unfayourable to it ; still it was granted,
but afterwards it was discharged, Mr. Sergeant
Wilde not supporting it. It has also been held in
Bexwell v. Christie, Cow. 395, that where an auc-
tioneer had received directions not to let a horse gc
under £15, and had sold it for less, on which ar
action was brought against him by the owner foi
the difference, the auctioneer would not have beer
justified in arranging a bidding under £15, as iu
would have been a fraud on the sale ; and, conse-
quently, he was not liable. The seller ought tc i
have made it a condition that there should be nc
bidding under £15.

I have already adverted to the general question;
of agency, but I have not alluded to a case oi
considerable importance in horse-dealing transac-
tions, where grooms and ostlers are frequently i
intrusted to sell; it is in the case of Capel v.\
Thornton, 3 Carrington and Payne, 352; where il|
was held, that " an agent authorized to sell goods j
has (in the absence of advice to the contrary,) an im- •
plied authority to receive the proceeds of such sale.'

335

I may also advert with propriety at this place
to the case of Briggs v. Crick, 5 Esp. 99 ; where it
was held, that " it is not necessary to release the
former proprietor of a horse, who had sold him
with a warranty of soundness, to qualify him to
give evidence that such horse was sound at the
time he sold him."

This case however seems to be over-ruled by that
of Biss V. Mountain, 1 Moody and Robinson, 302,
where it was held that "the vendor of a horse
warranted sound is not competent to prove sound-
ness for his vendee in an action brought against
the latter on a subsequent sale with warranty."
Briggs V. Crick was quoted without effect, the
Judge (Alderson) being of opinion that as the
effect of the verdict for the defendant would be to
relieve the witness from an action at the suit of the
latter, he was incompetent. In a note in this case,
other cases are quoted tending to support the
authority of Briggs v. Crick; and it is rightly
observed, that to render the witness incompetent,
it appears necessary to show not only that he is
exposed to liability, but that there is reason to
believe that his liability will certainly be enforced.
A merely speculative interest appears too remote to
disqualify a witness ; but I recommend my readers
who may chance to find the decision personally

336

important to them, to refer to the cases of Baldwin
V. Dixon, 1 Moody and Robinson, 59 ; Larbalistier
V. Clarke, 1 B. and Adol. 899 ; and Morish v. Foote,
8 Taunt. 455, quoted in the note on the report oi
Biss V. Mountain.

Since it has been established by the cases
already quoted, that, in the absence of an express
stipulation, a purchaser shall not be at liberty to
return if unsound, but shall only be entitled to
recover damages in an action upon the warranty,
it becomes of double importance, to ascertain the
extent of the damages which he may recover.

In the case of Caswell v. Coare, 1 Taunton, 566
which is a leading case upon this subject, it was
held, that " upon the breach of the warranty of f
horse, if the horse is returned, the measure o
damage is the price paid for him ; if the horse is
not returned, the measure of damage is the differ-
ence between his real value and the price given
If the horse is not tendered to the defendant, the
plaintiif can recover no damages for the price o)
his keep."

The warranty and unsoundness were proved
but no tender had been made of returning the
horse to the defendant. After the trial, the horse
being still standing at livery, the plaintiff gave the
defendant's attorney notice that he might go and

337

take the horse, but made no offer to pay for its
keep, the liveryman refused to deliver it, till its
keep was paid. Mansfield, C. J. : " The contract
being broken, the defendant must give back the
money, and the plaintiff must return the horse ;
but unless the plaintiff has tendered him, he cannot
recover for the keep, because it was not the defen-
dant's fault that plaintiff kept him . When the war-
ranty was broken, the plaintiff might instantly have
sold the horse for what he could get, and might
have recovered the residue of the price in damages."
In Chesterman v. Lamb, 4 Nevile and Manning^
195, already mentioned, it was held that " where
a horse warranted sound, turns out to be unsound,
and is, after notice to the seller, resold by the pur-
chaser, the latter may recover not only the differ-
ence of price between the first and second sales,
but also the keep of the horse for a reasonable
time ; but the question whether the horse has been
kept an unreasonable time before the resale is a
question for the jury; and if the seller rests his
defence on the soundness of the horse, and does
not request the judge to leave the question of time
to the jury, the court will not, upon motion for a
new trial, look into the evidence upon this point."
In this case, the sale took place on the 26th of
June. On the 9th of July the lameness was dis-

338

covered ; on the 25th of July the horse was sent
to Osborne's for sale, and notice given to the de-
fendant, with directions to remove it ; and on the
27th of July the action was commenced. On the
6th of September the defendant was informed that
it was intended to sell the horse. It was sold on
the 16th of September, and the keep of the horse
amounted to £9. I65., for which, and the difference
in price and costs of sale, amounting altogether to
£28. 10s., the action was brought.

The case of M^Kenzie v. Hancock, hereafter
quoted, is an important case to collate with Ches-
terman v. Lamb.

And in 2 Campbell, 82, the judge remarks, "I
remember when it was held, that an action could
not be maintained upon the warranty, without an
offer to return the horse. That doctrine is now
exploded, (Fielder v. Starkin, 1 H. B. 17 ; Curtis
r. Hannay, 3 Espin. Cas. 82;) but still, unless
the defendant refuses to take back the horse, the
plaintiff cannot complain that the expense of the
keep is necessarily thrown upon him.''

It will not fail to be noticed, that in this case,
the doctrine that a purchaser cannot return the
horse without express stipulation, as decided in the
case of Street v. Blay, does not appear to have been'
considered.

339

Another case upon the question of damages, is
to be found in Ryan and Moody, 436.

It is the case of M'Kenzie v. Hancock. " In
assumpsit for the breach of warranty of soundness
of a horse, the defendant having refused to take
back the horse, tlie plaintiff is entitled to recover
for the keep for such time only as would be
required to sell the horse to the best advantage."

The time must be a reasonable time ; the judge
(Littledale) alluded to the general prevalence of a
contrary doctrine; and as the defendant might
thus have his horse driven to a compulsory sale, it
is questionable, whether it is not to the advantage
of vendors, that the contrary doctrine should have
been still allowed to prevail.

I have already quoted the case of Lewis v. Peat,
2 Marsh. 431 ; where it was held, that the plaintiff
could recover in damages, the costs of an action
brought against himself upon the warranty of a
horse for soundness ; of which action he had given
notice to the party, from whom he had himself
purchased the same horse upon a similar warranty.

I have thus concluded the doctrine of horse
warranty ; and if my readers will bestow a tenth
part of the trouble in perusing it, that I have in
preparing it, the probability is, that they will be
ten times better paid for their labour, than I shal^
z2

340

be for mine ; but I have wished to make my book
complete, as a book of reference upon the law of
warranty, so far as it relates to horses ; and I have,
therefore, at the risk of being prolix, referred to
every case that I can find upon the subject, with
the exception of two or three, which merely relate
to dry points of pleading, in actions of which horses
are accidentally the subject.

The case of Miles v. Sheward, 8 East, 7, is one
of these, but it is expedient to mention it, because,
though it is only quoted as an authority on a point
of pleading, it involves matter of popular interest.
The warranty was, that the horse was worth £80,
that it was sound, was a young horse, and had
never been in harness. The plaintiff, however,
limited his declaration to a breach of that part of
the warranty which extended to his value and age.
It was objected that he had not set out the whole
warranty, but Lord EUenborough ruled that this
was unnecessary. Hence it follows that where
the seller gives a warranty extending to several
particulars, he is liable for a breach of any part of
that warranty, although on other parts he may
have fulfilled his engagement. If, for instance,
he undertakes that the horse is sound and five
years old, he is liable should the age be incorrect,
although the horse may prove perfectly sound.

341

The obligations contingent upon hiring horses,
and the rights of innkeepers and liverymen, are so
nearly allied to the subject of my work, that I shall
very briefly notice one or two cases upon these
topics. In Handford v. Palmer, 2 Brod. and Bing.
359, it is decided, that "a party who borrows a horse
is bound to keep it, unless an agreement is made
to the contrary;" and it is to be observed, that the
question in this case, was not at whose expense the
horse was to be fed, but whether he had been pro-
perly fed by the borrower, and returned, therefore,
in as good a condition as he was when the loan
was made. I need scarcely mention, that this was
a case of hiring, and not of borrowing.

But I shall hereafter quote one or two cases
which will show that even a borrower must be
equally careful of the animal lent to him. Indeed
the principle of law is, that a borrower is answer-
able for neglect of much slighter degree than is
requisite to fix a hirer, for as the lender derives no
profit from the transaction, it is reasonable that
extra care should be taken of his property.

In Bray v. Mayne, Gow N, P. 1, it is decided
by C. J. Dallas, that " after a hired horse is ex-
hausted, and has refused its feed, the hirer is
bound not to use it; and if he afterwards pursue his
journey with it, he is liable to the owner for its
value."

342

But the hirer is not only bound to refrain from
using an exhausted horse, but to provide for him
proper care and attendance if taken ill during the
hiring ; this may be collected from the following
case, though it turns not upon the question of
neglect, but of judicious treatment. The decision
is Lord Ellenborough's.

" If, upon a hired liorse being taken ill the hirer
calls in a farrier, he is not answerable for any mis-
takes which the latter may make in the treatment
of the hor?e : but if instead of that, he prescribes
for the liorse liimself, and from miskilfulness, gives
him a medicine wliich causes his deatli, although
acting bona fide, he is liable to the owner of the
horse as for gross negligence," Dean v. Keate, 3
Campb, 4. But for an accident without proof of
neghgence, the hirer is not liable. In Cooper v.
Barton, 3 Camp. 5 n., the liorse fell and broke its
knees. The owner proved that the horse had been
frequently let out, and had not before fallen. "To
maintain an action for negligence, however, against
the hirer of a horse for an injury done to it whilst
in his possession, the owner must give some positive
evidence of such negligence/' The action was tried
before Mr. Justice Le Blanc.

Where, however, " the horses are hired out to
draw a private carriage, but are driven by the
servant of the person who lets them, he shall be

343

liable for any injury done by them." Samuel v.
Wright, 5 Esp. 263 ; and the same doctrine is held
in Smith v. Lawrence, 2 M. & R. 1.

It is not within the scope of my work to enter
upon the subject of post-horse duties, though the
decisions on points connected with it, cannot but
be interesting to a large class of my readers. The
cases last quoted contain every other matter of
interest likely to occur to the job-master or his
customers.

The right of inn-keepers is decided in Johnson v.
Hill, 3 Starkie, 172, where it is held, that " an inn-
keeper has a lien upon a horse left with him, for
the keep, unless he knows that the horse has been
illegally obtained."

The exception in this case clearly means, that
the innkeeper, though he may assert a lien on the
horse against the party who left him in his charge
and against all other parties, if he has no notice of
a better title to him, cannot detain him from a third
party who has a better title, if he has received him
into his stable with notice of that fact. But I
infer, though doubtfully, that the innkeeper, to
deprive himself of his lien, must not only have such
notice, but have done some act of a fraudulent cha-
racter, accessary to the illegal taking of the horse ;
for otherwise, he might have maintained him bona

344

Jide, and as the horse might have died for want of
food, if he had refused to receive him, it seems, on
principles of common sense, that he is entitled to
detain him for his keep.

The case of livery-stable keepers stands on very
different grounds. The inn-keeper is compellable
by lav^, to take in strangers and their cattle for
reasonable compensation ; as therefore he has no
option to refuse the accommodation, it is equitable
that he should be entitled to indemnify himself;
but this obligation does not attach to livery-stable
keepers ; with them it is matter of choice whether
they will receive a stranger's horse ; it has there-
fore been held, that a special contract is necessary,
but at the same time, where that special contract
has been made, it is strictly enforced. The
authority on this point, is the case of Wallace v.
Woodgate, in 1 Carrington and Payne, 575. " A
stable keeper, by special agreement, may acquire a
lien on horses for their keep -, and if the owner, to
defeat such lien, gets them away by fraud, the
stable keeper has a right to get possession of
them, and for so doing, he will not be answerable
in trover; for the lien is not put an end to, by
the parting with the possession under such circum-
stances."

It is very important, however, to observe, that

345

there is also another essential difference between
the cases of an innkeeper, and a livery-stable
keeper, which affects the safety of those who
entrust their horses to their care. The horses in
the stable of an innkeeper, placed there for
temporary accommodation by travellers, are not
liable to be seized under a distress for rent, but
in the case of a livery-stable keeper, this liability
attaches to them ; and hence it is most material
for the owner to be assured of the solvency of the
liveryman. Vide Francis v. Wyatt, 3 Burr. 1498,
and Rol. Abr. 668 ; but vide also Crosier v. Tom-
kinson, 2 Ld. Ken. 439, for a distinction in the
case of a stable, underlet by the tenant to an
innkeeper during races. Though my work is not
intended for the exclusive edification of innkeepers,
I have found since I published my first edition
that I have a debt of gratitude to discharge to
many of them. I cannot acquit myself of it better
than by adding one or two cases of great practical
importance to them.

The general responsibility of an innkeeper is
well understood. The authority for it is the case
of Cross V. Andrews, Cro. Eliz. 622 ; but it is not
as well known that "where one leaves a horse at
an inn to stand there by agreement at livery,
although neither himself nor his servants lodge

346

there, he is reputed a guest for that purpose, and
the innkeeper hath a valuable consideration ; and
if that horse be stolen, he is chargeable with an
action upon the custom of the realm." Jelly v.
Clerk, Cro. Jac. 189. The same principle applies
of course to inj ury from carelessness or neglect, as
well as to theft. A similar opinion is held, though
not by all the court, in the case of York v. Grin-
stone, Salk. 388 ; and even where the owner is not
a guest at the inn, but only sends his servant with
the horse, the same rule holds good. Vide Beedle
V. Morris, Cro. Jas. 224. On the other hand, I
have already noticed the innkeeper's lien for the
keep of the horse confided to his care ; but even
this privilege is qualified — he cannot use the
horse ; vide Jones v. Pearl, 1 Str. 556; and on the
authority of the same case, it appears that he can-
not sell it, though its keep may exceed its value.
Such use, however, as is necessary or proper in
the way of exercise, is permissible. Vide Jones on
Carriers, page 81.

There is another important relation between the
owner and keeper of a horse which deserves notice.
Horses are usually turned out to graze after the
hunting season is over. The grazier stands in a
different situation from the innkeeper and livery-
man. If the animal is stolen or injured, he is not

347

responsible, unless by special agreement, except
for the want of reasonable care. If his fences are
good, and ordinary precautions are taken, he is
discharged from liability. Vide Broadwater v.
Blot, Holt N. P. C. 547.

There is a case quoted in the anonymous work to
which I havefrequently alluded, to which the reader's
attention should be called. It is the case of Coggs
V. Bernard, Lord Raym. 915. I have not the report
by me, but I extract Chief Justice Holt's words
from the Laws relating to Horses, p. 45. *' If a
man should lend another a horse to go westward,
or for a month, if the bailee go northward or keep
the horse above a month ; if any accident happen
to the horse in the northern journey, or after the
expiration of a month, the bailee will be charge-
able : because he has made use of the horse con-
trary to the trust he was lent to him under : and it
may be, if the horse had been used no otherwise
than as he was lent, that accident would not have
befallen him."

Nothing is more common than to take these
little liberties with a borrowed horse. I have
known a horse borrowed from a farmer for a
morning's ride, put at a fence, when he had
probably never faced timber in his life, and sent
home with both knees broken ! and great was the

348

difficulty I had in adjusting the matter on reason-
able terms between the indignant farmer and my
hare-brained friend. This case may save some
other scape-grace from a similar calamity.

I have omitted at the proper place to notice a
very important precaution. In taking a warranty,
strict attention should be paid to the meaning of
any technical expression that may be introduced;
as, for instance, a warranty that a horse is " a good
hunter/' would be only construed to mean, that he
takes his leaps well. The warranty should be ex-
tended to " a good hunter, and fast," if speed is also
required. This instance will suffice to illustrate my
meaning.

It is impossible to be too careful to use words
of familiar purport, and yet specific and precise,
in preparing any instrument to operate as an agree-
ment; but this is more especially the case in
horse warranties, for I have found in talking over
the matter with sporting friends, that even the most
knowing ones are not agreed as to the exact
meaning of the most common phrases used in the
^eld or on the turf. The New Sporting Magazine
itself is not always a safe authority! At a late
dinner party of sporting men, I was challenged to
make good this assertion. I selected three of the
most ordinary terms in common use in the field ;

349

a "bullfinch," a "rasper," and a "yawner:" and
though there was not one of the party, except
myself, that does not hunt regularly, there were
scarcely two who agreed in the same explanation
of these words; or even on their applicability,
excepting the last to jumps, with which we were
all locally familiar ! So much for slang authorities !

It may be doubted whether the difficulty of
buymg or selHng a horse is greater ; but there is
this essential difference, that in the latter case, the
difficulty is of a man's own creation. If he informs
himself fairly of its value, and asks a trifle less,
there are few of the large commission stables, at
which, if the proprietor of tl^m is a respectable
man, he will not find a speedy market ; if he in-
sists on selling without a loss,' the expence of the
keep will more than balance the chance of meet-
ing with a liberal purchaser. I liave already
alluded to the advantage given by the Horse and
Carriage Registry to the purchaser. The seller
derives as much and perhaps more benefit from it ;
for he can use his horse as usual till he receives
notice of a purchaser whose fancy he suits, and he

351

saves all the cost of livery ad interim^ as well as
the agent's commission and ostler's fees on the
sale ; and while it saves all the personal trouble
and loss of time attendant on such transactions, it
secures a better chance of finding a wiUing pur-
chaser than an advertisement in the daily papers
twenty times inserted.

The ethics of horse-dealing are very peculiar ;
there is only one other case in which gentlemen
appear, by a sort of conventional understanding, to
be excused for leaving their honesty behind them.
I have found to my cost, that no man thinks the
worse of a friend, for stealing an umbrella on a
rainy day, or palming off an unsound horse upon
a neighbour. This is now so perfectly understood,
that I must assume that my reader, whatever may
be his class, will cheat if he can ; but it is my duty
to inform him that Ije cannot go very far with im-
punity, and if he accepts the definition that I have
given of unsoundness, namely, any infirmity or
defect that incapacitates a horse for fair and rea-
sonable exertion in the labour for which he is
avowedly purchased, he will readily perceive that
his power of cheating is circumscribed by very
narrow limits. In fact the gentleman-dealer is in
a far worse situation to practise successful fraud,
than the professed chaunter. Men who can afford

352

to keep horses for their pleasure, can also afford
to pay costs ! they are therefore worth the trou-
ble of suing. Moreover, I must do my " order"
(as Lord Grey has it) the justice to say, that
though little averse to the amusement of jockeying
a friend, when they can couple profit vdth a laugh
at his expense, there are but few among them so far
gone as to brave the opinion of the public, even in a
horse-cause ; or to attempt to carry the day by sub-
orning a legion of perjured ostlers and stable-boys.
"How then am I to sell my horse?" Very
paradoxical it may be ; but I reply, " by simply
telling the truth !" I have sold my horses with
more facility and to more advantage by following
this principle than by the most plausible enco-
mium of their merits ; and what is of yet greater
importance, I have never, in any instance, expe-
rienced the annoyance of defending an action on
the warranty. Let the fault of a horse be what it
may, he will suit some kind' of work, and will
therefore find a purchaser at his fair value. A
frank acknowledgment of faults, too, will obtain
credit for a counter statement of good qualities.
If the object is to effect a speedy sale, the Horse
and Carriage Registry furnishes the best chance;
but even then it is probable, if the seller is veiy
impatient, that the purchaser must be looked for

353

among the dealers; and in this case it will not
reduce the price to any extent worth mentioning,
if the seller refuses to warrant. A dealer always
asks a warranty, because he can resell the horse
with more security ; but it influences him very little
in fixing his price. He knows that the horse
would not be sold except for some fault, real or
suspected, and he usually takes his chance of the
fault, and places as little faith in the seller's war-
ranty as he is conscious that his own deserves.
Cases too have been known where a dealer, find-
ing his purchase not suited to the taste of an ex-
pected customer, has purposely physicked the
horse, that he might return him as unsound, on the
warranty.

If strict veracity is always politic, there are
some cases in which it is indispensable. I am of
opinion that a man cannot sell a horse that he
knows to be vicious, especially vicious in the sta-
ble, without incurring a personal responsibiUty for
all consequences. If such a horse should occasion
the loss of life, the vendor who concealed the vice
would be morally, and perhaps legally, guilty of
manslaughter : if he should only endanger a limb,
or otherwise injure a person, or even a carriage,
a seller with a warranty^ who suppressed the ani-
mal's tricks, would be responsible in damages to
2a

354

the injured party. It is worth a gentleman's
while to take these points into consideration, es-
pecially when selling a horse for a lady or a child
to ride.

While correcting the sheets of my second edi-
tion, an accident occurred to me with a pony
which I bought at Osborne's : I bought him for
harness ; the name of his late owner is Goddard.
I drove him three or four times, and had no fault
to find with him, except that his mouth was as
hard as a board ; but after a few days the vicious
brute took it into his head, without any cause of
alarm, to bolt, while I was driving a lady and
child in my phaeton. I had but one alternative
to save our lives, and desperate as it appears to
be, I recommend it to others similarly circum-
stanced. Though I could not stop him, I was
able to guide him, and I directed his course
directly on the iron railings of. Cavendish Square.
He fractured his head, and I escaped without serious
injur3^ My fair companion was less fortunate^
having been thrown on the dashing-iron ; she was
not materially hurt, as she must have been but
for her presence of mind in retaining her seat. I
mention this as a caution to other females, for
nine out of ten in similar cases spring out of the
carriage. If the lady who sold the horse to me

355

was aware of this vice, it was unpardonable to
conceal it ; had fatal consequences followed to my
friend, Mrs. Goddard's feelings would, if possible,
have been yet more painful than my own. Mr.
Osborne was wholly free from blame, for he
honestly told me that he knew nothing of the horse,
and before I bought him, he drove him in my
company, when he went very quietly.

It is customary to feed a horse for sale ; this is
of itself a species of fraud, and one scarcely worth
the trouble and expense it involves. A horse is
rarely brought into good condition in less than
three weeks, during which he must enjoy absolute,
and therefore unprofitable rest. That sleek and
fat condition which recommends a horse to an
inexperienced buyer, does not qualify the animal for
work, and is at once detected by a dealer. It may
obtain a guinea or two more, because the dealer
finds the horse more marketable, but it will
scarcely obtain such an addition to the price as
will countervail the previous expense : a knowing
hand prefers buying a horse in his rough state, or
in daily work.

If the seller sends his horse to Tattersall's, it

is desirable to bespeak a separate box for him

(assuming him to be of value), or to send him so

early as to insure his being placed in the eight-

2 A 2

356

stall stable. The sale begins at twelve, and the
earlier horses in the catalogue are of course sold
first; but the yard is not filled, at least not
with fashionable customers, till a much later hour,
and of course it is an object so to place him in
the list as to insure his being brought out at
the most favourable period. This precaution is
scarcely necessary at the Bazaar or any other place
of public sale. I have found by experience, since
my first edition was published, that some ingenuity
is requisite to get a horse received at all by Messrs.
Tattersall. I have sent horses there four times this
last season, but I have been unable to obtain a stall
for them under a fortnight's notice. This argues
much for their celebrity, but very little for convenient
accommodation. Mr. Tattersall's days of sale are
Mondays, and in the height of the season sales are
occasionally held on Thursdays also. At the Bazaar,
Saturday is the sale-day ; at Morris's, now Allen's,
Wednesday. It will be convenient to my readers
to subjoin the conditions of sale adopted at these
and other similar establishments. They will be
found in the Appendix. The seller, however, will
bear in mind that, whatever may be the practice of
the place, a purchaser (unless at auction) will not
be bound by these special conditions, unless they
are introduced, or specially referred to, in the war-

357

ranty, or note of sale; but see the case of Bywater
V. Richardson, 1 Adolphus and Ellis, 508, already
quoted.

If his receipt merely contains the words, " war-
ranted sound," the purchaser is entitled at anytime
to proceed on the warranty, for disease or incapaci-
tating defects existing at the time of sale. A seller,
therefore, who wishes to avail himself of the pro-
tection thus afforded, must be careful to add to
his receipt the words "to be returned, if unsound,
within six days, according to the custom of the
bazaar," or other words of similar import.

I have but one more hint to give to a gentleman
sending his horses to commission stables for sale
by private contract. He is always, of course,
asked what price he expects, and as soon as he
has named it, he receives the same answer.

" How much do you set upon him. Sir?"

" Fifty guineas."

" Then you won't get it."

If you have not informed yourself correctly of
his value, the chances are two to one that you do
not get it. Many of these men, perhaps the ma-
jority of them, are dealers behind the curtain. I
have detected one or two in selling my horse for
thirty guineas for mej and selling it again next day
for fifty for themselves. Probably the agent knows

358

of a customer whom the horse will suit, and who
will give a liberal price for him : that his employer
may not have the benefit of such a customer, he
will take good care never to show the horse, till
he has tired the owner into selling him on lower
terms. He then buys him a bargain, and pri-
vately sells him to the customer at a cent, per
cent, profit. This is called " planting " the horse.
All this is illegal ; for the agent is trustee for
the seller, and a trustee cannot purchase the
property entrusted to his care. But it is im-
possible to guard oneself effectually against, the
fraud, except by booking the animal at a price
which you know approaches within five or ten
pounds of his real worth. If he remains unsold
for a week, remove him elsewhere. In the spring or
summer, a week is ample time to find a customer, if
a fancy price is not demanded ; and you may safely
infer from longer delay, either that the agent wishes
to tire you into selling at Ms price, and has, perhaps,
stigmatized the horse, to keep off other customers,
or else that his customers are not sufficiently
numerous to make a market. It is useless expense
to send a vicious horse, or one decidedly unsound,
to any place for private sale : the dealers have the
run of all the commission stables, and know the
character of every horse that stands there ; if his

359

owner is not " one of the trade," his sins will be
published at Charing Cross wathin a week. A
horse of this description wall only find a sale at
the hammer; and even there he is sure to pro-
duce more than he is worth. I never sold but one
unsound horse at commission stables, and I only
got rid of him by following the course that I have
suggested — honestly mentioning his fault. A gen-
tleman bought him ^^for the novelty of the thing ;"
it seemed so strange to tell the truth in horse-deal-
ing ! I was happy to hear, two months afterwards,
that he continued well pleased with his bargain.*

Gentle reader, I have finished my task, or ra-
ther, my amusement : if my information proves as
useful to you, as it has been to myself, you w^ill
read my little book a second time, and grudge

* While engaged in correcting this sheet, my publishers
received the following note, in reference to the case of Patteshall
V. Tranter, quoted at page 327. It is too late to refer to it at the
proper place, I therefore introduce it here, with many thanks to
ray anonymous critic.

'' ' Patteshall v. Tranter.' This cause was tried, a second time,
at the spring assize, 1837, at Hereford, before Lord Denman
and a special jury. The plaintiff lost it, failing to prove the war-
ranty of the horse, and not on any of the points on which Mr.
Justice Park directed the nonsuit on the former trial. N. B. The
first trial took place in the spring of 1834, instead of 1835, as
mentioned in ' Caveat Emptor.' "

360

neither the time nor the price. I have had above
a hundred horses in my stables during the last
two-and-tvi^enty years, and have not averaged a
loss of three pounds on each ! It is not less in-
structive to add, that from a horse's fault, I have
never broken a limb, or strained a muscle ; yet my
saddle has been more familiar to me than my sofa.
I heartily wish you the same good fortune, and
with the wish I take my leave.

APPENDIX.

The following are the conditions of sale at
Messrs. Tattersall's and other repositories. [I had
to apologize to those gentlemen in my first edition,
for erroneously spelling their name throughout the
work : the error was not discovered till the sheets
were worked off. — This explanation has become
incidentally of some importance ; for one of your
critics, proverbially a good-natured race, has quoted
the error, but not the explanation; and quoted it as
conclusive evidence of my ignorance of horse-flesh,
and all matters relating thereto ! 1 ! The fact is
simply, that I employed another hand to copy my
manuscript for the press, and entrusted him with the
correction of it. I did not discover the mistake
till the sheets were worked off, and the type broken
up ; I had then no alternative, but to correct it in
the Appendix. The error, such as it is, was not
found in the concluding sheets.]

These conditions apply to sales by private con-
tract as well as by auction.

1. The highest bidder to be the buyer; and if any dispute
arise between any two or more bidders, the lot so disputed
shall be immediately put up again and re-sold.

362

2. No person to advance less than five shillings ; above five
pounds, five shillings, and so on in proportion.

3. The purchasers to give in their names and places of abode
(if required) and to pay down five shillings in the pound (if
required) as earnest, and in part of payment; in default of
which, the lot so purchased may be immediately put up again
and re-sold, if the auctioneer shall think fit.

4. The lots to be taken away within one day after the sale is
ended, at the buyer's expense, and the remainder of the
purchase money to be absolutely paid before the delivery of
the lot.

5. Upon failure of complpng ^vith the above conditions, the
money deposited in part of payment shall be forfeited to the
owner of the lot, he paying thereout all just expenses, and the
lot shall be re-sold by public or private sale, and the deficiency
(if any) attending such re-sale, shall be immediately made good
by the defaulter at this sale.

6. If any person shall purchase a lot, and not pay for it
within the time limited by the 4th condition, nothing contained
in the 5th condition shall prevent the auctioneer, or owner of
the lot, from compelling the purchaser to pay for it, if the
auctioneer or seller shall so think fit.

7. The vendor shall be entitled to receive the purchase-money
of each lot not warranted sound, on the third day from the sale
day; and all horses sold as sound on' Monday, will be paid
for on Friday ; and all horses sold as sound on Thursday, will
be paid for on Tuesday, provided the auctioneer shall then have
received the purchase-money, or delivered the lot out of his
custody, but not before.

8. The purchaser of any lot warranted sound, who shall con-
ceive the same to be unsound, shall return the same, on or
before the evening of the second day from the sale, otherwise
the same shall be deemed sound, and the purchaser shall be
obliged to keep the lot with all faults.

!

363

y. The King's tax shall be paid by the seller, and not by the
purchaser.

10. All horses, carriages. Sec, brought to this repository for
sale, and sold hj private contract, either by Messrs. Tatter-
SALL, the owner, or any one acting as agent for the owner of
such horses, carriages, &c., shall pay the usual commission ;
and no person shall have a right to take away his horses, car-
riages, &c., until the commission, keep, and other expenses are
paid, whether the same have been sold by public auction, or
private contract, or are not sold.

11. All horses, carriages, &c., advertised by Aressrs.TAXXER-
SALL (though not upon the premises at the time of sale, either
by private contract or public auction) shall pay the usual com-
mission. Lastly. The conditions of sale are : —

If sold by public auction, two shillings in the pound.
If by private contract, one shilling in the pound ; and
If not sold, j^re shillings for putting up.
The days for payment are, for unwarranted horses, Wed-
nesdays; for warranted horses, Fridays, only, between the
hours of 10 and 4 o'clock.

N. B. No money paid without a written order.

The following are the conditions of sale at the
Bazaar: —

Sales hj Auction, for Horses and Carriages every Saturday,
and hy Commission daily.

Regulations for the sale of Horses hy Commission.

1. Horses will be taken in for sale every day, from eight
o'clock in the morning until eight in the evening, during
summer, and until dark in the winter, after having passed
the examination of the veterinary surgeon, in order to guard
against the introduction of contagious disease.

364

2. The premises will be open for general business only
during these hours, within which horses may be tried or taken
away.

3. A commission of 51. per cent, will be charged on the
amount of all sales.

4. The proprietors of horses sold may receive th€ amount of
sales, deducting for keep, commission, &c., on the fourth day
after the sale.

5. The price for forage, &c., will be that ordinarily charged
in the same neighbourhood from time to time.

6. Carriage horses may be seen in harness, and tried a short
distance out of the Bazaar ; but saddle horses will not be
allowed to go out, unless by express permission of the owner,
as the space within is sufficiently extensive and convenient for
trial and exercise.

7. All horses purchased must be paid for previously to de-
livery ; and persons failing to make payment within two days
after the purchase, will become liable either to an action at law
by the owner, or to a dissolution of the contract, at his (the
owner's) option.

8. Should any horse be warranted, and prove unsound, he
must be returned within the second day after the sale, (not in-
cluding the day of sale,) and within the prescribed hours of
that day. It must, however, be distinctly understood, that this
period only applies to Mr. Allen's liability, the law being
open against the owners after that date, as in all other cases of
warranty, and that all liability, on the part of the agent, will
cease at the period he binds himself to pay over the amount of
sales to the owners.

9. In all disputes which may arise respecting purchases and
sales, where the law leaves it at the option of the parties either
to bring or defend actions in the name of the agents or the prin-
cipals, no action will be brought or defended by the agent, or
in his name, but the action and defence must be brought or
made by the parties themselves and in their own names;

I

365

thereby leaving the agent what he ought to be in the trans-
action, an impartial witness, to prove the facts in dispute.

10. When a horse, having been warranted sound, shall be
returned within the prescribed period on account of unsound-
ness, a certificate from the veterinary surgeon, particularly
describing the unsoundness, must accompany the horse so
returned; when, if it be agreed to by the veterinary surgeon of
the establishment, the amount received for the horse shall be
immediately paid back ; but if the veterinary surgeon of the
establishment should not confirm the certificate, then, in order
to avoid further dispute, another veterinary surgeon shall be
called in, and his decision shall be final ; and the expense of
such umpire shall be borne by the party in error.

11 . If any horse, wan'anted quiet in harness or quiet to ride,
or warranted in any other respect, (except as to soundness,)
shall be returned within the prescribed period, as not answer-
ing the warranty given with him at the time of sale, he shall be
tried and examined by an impartial person, approved of by
Mr. Allen, whose decision shall be final; and the considera-
tion for the examination, viz. 10*., shall be paid by the party
in error.

12. No liability is to attach to Mr. Allen in the event either
of an ofier or an agreement to purchase not being subsequently
carried into effect.

13. All charges upon horses that may be taken away unsold,
must be paid before delivery.

14. When the expenses upon any horses sent in for sale
shall amount to a larger sum with reference to their value than
Mr. Allen shall deem expedient, he shall, at the expiration of
ten days after the sending of a written notice to the owner or
owners, addi-essed by post, agreeably to the register made at the
time the horse or horses were sent in for sale, be at liberty to
sell and dispose of the same, either by public or private con-
tract, placing the proceeds to the credit of the parties, and pay-
ing over to them the balance, if anv remain, after deducting all

366

charges for the keep, commission on sale, &c. ; but if on the C(;i; -
trary any balance should remain due to Mr. Allen, the same
must be immediately paid to him on demand, or in default
thereof, interest thereon shall commence, at the rate of 5/. per
cent, per annum, from the day of sale, on which day the
balance will be considered due.

Regulations for die sale of Horses hy Auction.

1 . A sale by auction will take place ever\' Saturday, and
will commence precisely at one o'clock.

2. The charge for commission w^ill be 51. per cent

3. Catalogues will be made out every Friday, describing
such horses as are to be put up for sale, together with the
number which may be affixed to each horse on entering the
bazaar, and the numerical order in which it will be brought
out for sale.

4. The description of the horses given in the catalogue will
be the only one by which the horses are put up for sale by
auction ; it will therefore have no reference whatever to that on
the tin (which relates only to the horses on sale by commission) ;
and every horse intended for sale by auction must be in the
bazaar at least one day before the day of sale, in order to be
inserted in the catalogue of the next day's sale.

5. A deposit of 10/. per cent, must, if demanded, be paid on
each lot at the time of the purchase, and the remainder before
delivery on the same day ; but should the purchase-money not
be made good during the day, the deposit will be forfeited,
leaving the owner at liberty to dissolve the contract, or to re-sell
the horse, either privately or by auction, with or without giving
notice to the purchaser, who will be debtor to the owner for
any difference or loss which may arise out of the non-fulfilment
of the contract, including commission on the re-sale, keep, and
all other charges whatever.

6. Three shillings will be charged on each horse put up for
sale by auction, if not sold.

I

367

7. All charges upon horses taken away unsold must be paid
before delivery.

8. The price of forage will be the same as may from time to
time be charged in the bazaar for horses sold on commission.
The care, attention, feeding, and exercise, will also be the same.

9. Should any dispute arise at the sale between the bidders,
the lot on which such dispute shall arise will be put up again.

10. No bidding less than 10*. 6d. on sums under twenty
guineas, nor less than one guinea on sums above twenty
guineas, will be accepted, and the highest bidder will be the
purchaser.

N.B. The 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 14th regulations,
under the head of " Sale of Horses by Commission," apply
equally to sales by auction.

Mr. Allen will not deal in horses, either directly or indi-
rectly, but will conduct himself most strictly as an agent; nor
will any person employed by him be allowed to deal, or ask
for any perquisite.

An able veterinary surgeon will be constantly looking over
the stables, careful, experienced head grooms and stablemen
iielected, and a watchman kept to guard against accidents, par-
ticularly those arising from horses getting cast in their stalls.

Great attention will be paid to horses' feet, and each horse
will have an hour's walking exercise every day.

Regulations for the sale of Carriages hy Commission.

1. Carriages will be taken in for sale every day, from eight
in the morning until eight in the evening during summer, and
until dark in the winter.

2. The premises will be open for general business only
during these hours, within which carriages will be received
and delivered.

3. A commission of 5/. per cent, will be charged on the
amount of all sales.

368

4. The proprietors of carriages sold may receive the amount
of sales, deducting for commission, rent, cleaning, (Sec, on the
fourth day after the sale.

5. Rent will be charged by the week, viz. 3^. 6d. for four-
wheel carriages, and 2s. for two-wheel carriages ; 3s. 6d. will
be charged for the washing and cleaning of four-wheel carriages,
and Is. 6d. for two-wheel carriages.

6. AU carriages purchased must be paid for previously to
deliver}' ; and persons failing to make pajTnent within two days
after the purchase, will become liable eitlier to an action at law
by the owner, or to a dissolution of the contract, at his (the
owner's) option.

7. No liability is to attach to Mr. Allen, in the event either
of an offer or an agreement to purchase not being subsequently
carried into effect.

8. The rent, cleaning, &c., of carriages that may be taken
away unsold, must be paid for before delivery.

9. When the standing and other expences, upon any car-
riages sent in for sale, shall amount to a larger sum with refe-
rence to their value than Mr. Allen shall deem expedient, he
shall, at the expiration of ten days after the sending of a writ-
ten notice to the owner or owners, addressed by post, agreeably
to the register made at the time the carriage or carriages were
sent in for sale, be at liberty to sell and dispose of the same,
either by public or private contract, placing the proceeds to
the credit of the parties, and paying over to them the balance,
if any remain, after deducting all charges for standing, com-
mission on sale, &c. ; if, on the contrary, any balance should
remain due to Mr. Allen, the same must be immediately paid
to him on demand, or in default thereof, interest thereon shall
commence, at the rate of 51. per cent, per annum, from the day
of sale, on which day the balance will be considered due.

10. In all disputes which may arise respecting purchases and
sales, where the law leaves it at the option of the parties either ]
to bring or defend actions in the name of the agents or the prin-

I

369

cipals, no action \vill be brought or defended by the agent, or
in his name ; but the action and defence must be brought and
made by the parties themselves, and in their own names;
thereby leaving the agent, what he ought to be in the trans-
action, an impartial witness, to prove the facts in dispute.

N. B. Carriages let on job, will be charged a commission of
bL per cent, on the amount of hire.

Regulations for the sale of Carriages hy Auction.

1. A sale by auction will take place every Saturday.

2. The charge for commission will be bl. per cent.

3. Rent will be charged by the week, at 3s. Qd. for four-wheel
carriages, and 2*. for two-wheel carriages.

4. The rent, washing, &c., of carriages unsold, must be paid
for before delivery.

5. Catalogues will be made out on the Monday previous to
the sale, describing each carriage to be put up, together with
the number which may be affixed to it, and the numerical order
in which it will be put up.

6. The description of the carriages given in the catalogue
will be the only one by which the carriages are put up for sale
hy auction; it will therefore have no reference whatever to that
on the tin, (which relates only to the carriages on sale hy com-
mission ;) and every carriage intended for sale by auction must
be in the bazaar at least one day before the day of sale, in order
to be inserted in the catalogue of the next day's sale.

7. Three shillings will be charged on each carriage put up
for sale by auction.

8. A deposit of lOZ. per cent, must, if demanded, be paid
on each lot at the time of purchase, and the remainder before
delivery on the same day ; but should the purchase-money not
be made good during the day, the deposit will be forfeited,
leaving the owner at liberty to dissolve the contract, or to re-
sell the carriage, either privately or by auction, with or tmtJwut

2b

370

giving notice to the purcliaser, who will he dehtor to the owner
for any difference or loss which may arise out of the non-fulfil-
ment of the contract, including commission on the re-sale,
standing, and all other charges whatever.

9. Should any dispute arise at the sale between the bidders,
the lot on which such dispute shall arise will be put up again.

10. No bidding less than 10*. 6d. on sums under twenty gui-
neas, nor less than one guinea on sums above twenty guineas
will be accepted, and the highest bidder will be the purchaser.

The 6th, 8th, and 9th regulations under the head of" Sale
of Carriages by Commission," apply also to sales by auction.

Money is advanced at the Bazaar, both on carriages and
horses.

N. B. All risk from fire will attach to the owners of property
deposited in the bazaar.

The following are the terms of the Horse and
Carriage Registry, No. 1, Duncannon- street,
Charing-cross : —

For a fee of five shillings, the full description of every
horse or carriage in the market, for purchase, sale, or hire, is
registered, with the name and address of the parties desirous
of purchasing or selling. The description and the fee may
be enclosed in a two-penny post letter, and the applications
of purchasers and sellers will be communicated to each other
through the same channel.

The register will be open at all times to the inspection of
strangers, on payment of half-a-crown. Where sellers are
ignorant of the true value of their horses, or whether they
can be prudently warranted, or when purchasers wish for a
professional opinion upon the soundness of a horse or can-iage,
pre^dously to purchase, the veterinary surgeon, or carriage
inspector, zvill attend at any part of the metropolis, or ivithin a
reasonable distance of it, for half-a-guinea.

371

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The following is the form of registering a Carriage.

No.

Description of
Carriage wanted.

New or
second-hand.

Colour.

Patent or
common boxes.

■

Price.

Length of time for wliich
ihe hire is required.

Nature of work
to be done.

Special stipulations.

A blank form will be sent by tbe two-penny post to any
gentleman who will enclose his card in a post-paid letter,
addressed to the office ; and on receiving the form back again
with the requisite information, or so much of it as the seller
thinks proper to supply, and with a fee of fire shillings, the
address of any gentleman whom the description suits will be
sent by post to the seller. The same course will be taken
with every purchaser; and in the case of carriages as well
as horses.

The purchase-money may, with the consent of purchaser
and seller, be paid into the office, pending the warranty ; and
in all such cases the warranty is limited to four days, after
which the horse must be retained with all faults.

Every exertion will be made to find fancy or other horses

I

373

for gentlemen who are unwilling to incur the trouble per-
sonally. All applications to be addressed, post paid, to Mr,
Geo. Brooks, No. 1, Duncannon-street, Charing-cross.

Regulations at Mr. Osborne's stables, in King's
Road, Gray's Inn.

1. All horses that are sold and warranted, must, if proved
otherwise, be returned within six days from the time of sale.

2. The owners of horses sold may receive the money on the
seventh day from the time of sale.

3. All horses must be paid for before they are delivered, and
for those which are not sold, the expenses must be paid before
taken away.

I take this opportunity of observing that Mr.
Osborne of the King's Road, is not the defendant
in the cause of Best v. Osborne quoted in the
previous pages. I am anxious to explain this,
because I should be very sorry to impute to him
the conduct attributed to the son of the defendant
in that cause. Both the Osbornes, father and
son, have always acted in an honourable way in
all transactions in which I have been personally
engaged with them, and I believe them to be as
respectable and plain-dealing men as any in the
trade ; though I must add, that if they possessed
a little more scientific knowledge they would listen
with more attention to the objections of their cus-
tomers. It is a fault however, on the right side,
as respects such of their customers as are sellers ;

374

and for my own part, I sell there more frequently
than I buy. They are very liberal in the trial of
their horses, an important point with all buyers,
and not less so with all honest sellers.

Conditions attending the sales of Mr. Dixon
of Barbican, by auction or private contract. The
sales are on Friday.

1. The highest bidder to be the buyer; if any dispute
arises, the lot to be put up again and re-sold.

2. To advance five shillings at each bidding above five
pounds ; ten shillings above ten pounds ; and so on in pro-
portion.

3. All horses, sold either by public auction or private con-
tract, wan'anted in any respect, and not answering such war-
ranty, to be returned by six o'clock the next evening, or in
default thereof, the purchaser will he obliged to keep them with
all faults.

4. Horses sent in for sale warranted, must be entered as
such, to prevent disputes ; and each lot sold without warranty,
to be taken with all faults.

5. Each lot intended for sale will be entered in the books,
with the proprietor's name, residence and price, on their re-
ception. The seller to pay two shillings and sixpence for
each lot putting up, if not sold ; and for selling by public
auction, five per cent, commission, with a duty of twelve-pence
in the pound j and for selling by private sale, one shilling in
the pound, if the lot is sold either by the auctioneer or pro-
prietor, provided the customer is found on the premises.

6. The purchaser is immediately to give in his name and
residence, with a deposit of five shillings in the pound on the
amount of his purchase, and to pay the remainder of the pur-
chase-money before the lot or lots shall be delivered.

375

7. No money will be paid to the proprietor, unless the lots
are cleared by the purchaser : and the auctioneer will not be
answerable for any deficiency that may arise by the re- sale of
uncleared property.

As to property sold, eitlier hy auction or private contract.

8. On all property remaining uncleared until the ensuing
sale day, the deposit shall be forfeited, and such property shall
be immediately liable to be re-sold by public or private sale ;
and all deficiencies and expenses occasioned by such defaults,
and attending such re-sales, must be made good by the de-
faulters.

The owners of property sold may receive their respective
balances, by calling, or sending proper orders in writing, on
the following Monday, from ten until four o'clock.

Conditions of sale at Mr. Robinson's in Little
Britain. The sale day is Thursday.

1. The highest bidder to be the buyer, and if any dispute
arise between two or more bidders, the same shall be put
up again and re-sold.

2. No person to advance less than five shillings above five
pounds, ten shillings and sixpence above ten pounds, and so
on in proportion.

3. The purchasers to give in their names and places of
abode, and to pay down five shillings in the pound as earnest,
and in part of papnent; upon failure of which the lot may be
put up again, and re-sold.

4. The lots, if moveable, to be taken away on the day of
sale at the buyer's expense, and the remainder of the purchase
money absolutely paid on or before delivery.

5. Houses, buildings, land, leases, or fixtures, to be paid
for within seven days.

376

6. Upon failure of complying with the abore, the money
deposited in part of payment shall be forfeited ; the property-
may be re-sold by public or private sale ; and the deficiency
(if any) on such re-sale, together with all expences attending
the same, shall be made good by the defaulter.

7. If any person purchase a lot, and not pay for it agree-
ably to the fourth and fifth conditions, nothing contained in
the sixth shall prevent the auctioneer, or owner of the pro-
perty, from compelling him to do so.

8. No horse, or other property, sold warranted in any re-
spect, will be taken back, if not answering the warranty,
unless returned before six o'clock in the evening of the second
day from the day of sale ; if houses, buildings, land, leases,
or fixtures, seven days ; as at the expiration of that time the
auctioneer is bound to pay over the proceeds to the original
owner ; and all horses or other property, sold without war-
ranty, must be kept with all faults.

9. The auctioneer will not be answerable for any deficiency
that may from any cause arise on uncleared property, unless
he receives it of the defaulter.

10. The owner shall be entitled to receive the purchase-
money on the third day from the sale, provided the auc-
tioneer shall have received the same, or delivered the property
out of his custody ; and provided also, that such property has
not been returned to him under the eighth condition.

1 1 . The auction duty and all other expenses to be paid by
the seller.

Lastly, all horses, carriages, &c., brought to this repository
for sale, and sold either by Mr. Robinson or the owner of
the property, shall pay the usual commission ; and no person
shall take away his horses, carriages, &c., until the keep,
commission, and other expenses are paid, whether sold by
public auction, or private contract, or not sold.

377

Conditions of sale, public or private, at Allen's,
late Morris's, Repository, in St. Martin's Lane.
The sale day is Wednesday.

1. The highest bidder to be the buyer, and if any dispute
arise between two or more bidders, before the lot is returned
into the stable, the lot so disputed shall be put up again and
re-sold.

2. No person to advance less than five shillings above
five pounds, ten shillings above ten pounds, and so on in pro-
portion.

3. The purchasers to give in their names and places of
abode, to pay down five shillings in the pound as earnest and
in part of payment ; upon failure of which the lot so pur-
chased may be immediately put up again and resold, if the
auctioneer chooses.

4. The lots to be taken away within one day after the sale,
at the buyer's expense, and the remainder of the purchase-
money to be paid before the lot is delivered.

5. Upon failure of complying with the above, the money
deposited in part of payment shall be forfeited to the owner
of tlie lot, he paying thereout all just expences ; the lot shall
be resold by public or private sale, and the deficiency (if any)
attending such re-sale, must be made good by the first pur>
chaser.

6. If any person shall purchase a lot, and not pay for it
within tlie time limited in the fourth condition, nothing con-
tained in the fifth shall prevent the auctioneer or owner of
the lot from compelling the purchaser to pay for it, if the auc-
tioneer or seller should choose.

7. The vendor shall be entitled to receive the money for
lots on the third day from the sale, provided the auctioneer
shall have received the purchase-money, or delivered the lot
out of his custody.

8. The purchaser of any lot, wananted in any respect, who
shall conceive the same not to answer the warranty, shall re-
turn it on or before five o'clock in the evening of the second
day from the sale, otherwise the purchaser shall be obliged to
keep it with all faults.

9. The King's tax to be paid by the seller.

Lastly, all horses, carriages, &c. brought to this repository
for sale, and sold either by Mr. Allen or the owner of the
lot, shall pay the usual commission ; and no person shall take
his horses, carriages, &c., until the keep, commission, and
other expenses are paid, whether sold by public auction, or
private contract, or are not sold.

There is only one other horse repository in the
metropolis, Mr. Alexander's, of Chiswell Street.
I have applied to him for his conditions of sale, to
publish in this Appendix, but I have not been
able to obtain them. I believe them to be very
similar to those w^hich I have given.

INDEX.

In tJie following Index, all the subjects more particularly
connected with the law of kwse-dealing, are arranged under the
head of WARRAT^TY, though not properly falling under that term.
This course has been taken to render the reference more con-
venient to professional men.

Advertisements, their character, 20, 34, 145, 211.

Action, see Horse's Paces.

Age of Horses, 1^27, 165, 310.

Agent, see Warranty.

Anderson, Mr., 41.

Auctions, their character, 209, see also Warranty.

Auctioneers, see Warranty.

Bars, explained, 70.

Blemish, not unsoundness, 49, 95.

Blindness, 122.

Bog-spavin, 108.

Bone-spavin, 106, 316.

Broken-knees, 95, 195.

Capped-hock, 109.

Cataract, 123.

Chest-founder, 100, 301, 313.

Chill, 187.

Cleanliness, its importance in stables, 169.

Cleeve's, Mr., Treadmill for cutting chaflf, 183,

Clipping, 176.

Cobs, their description, 4, ^o.

380

Coffin-bone, 72.

Cold, 130.

Coleman, Professor, 74,

Conditions of sale, notice of to purchaser, 329 ; see Warranty.

Contract, see WaiTanty.

Corns, 78, 315.

Coronary ring and ligament, explained, 66.

Coronet, explained, 69.

Cough, 102, 304.

Coughing a Horse, its object, 103.

Cow-hocked, or cat-hocked, explained, 59.

Crib-biting, 136, 275, 311 ; its effects, 312.

Crust, 69.

Curb, 109, 182.

Cutting or interfering, 89.

Damages, 336, see Warranty.
Dealers, their tricks, 28, 60, 161.
Delivery, see Warranty.
Disease, hereditary, 312.
Distress, treatment in cases of, 189.
Dixon's Repository, see Appendix.
Dragging the ground, explained, 58.
Dropping, explained, 61, 84.
Dye, Mr., 41.

Earnest, payment of, see Warranty.

Elmore, Mr., 41.

Eye, its construction, 115; difference from the human eye,

117, 119; examination of the sight, 122.
Evidence of a former seller, with warranty, admissible, sed

quaere, 335.

Farcy, 130.

Farriers, horsedealing with, 34.

Feeding a horse for sale, 19.

381

Feet, their form, Sec, 68; malformation, mode of judging of,

76; stopping, 179.
Fetlock joint, 81.
Fever, 193.

Field, Mr., 158; see introductory chapter.
Founder, 75.
Fraud, see Warranty.
Frog, 70.

Gentlemen dealers, 16, 23, 26, 35, 351.
Glanders, 129; in the human subject, 131.
Goggles, 312.
Grease, 110.
Grogginess explained, 60, 181.

Hackney, the fair price, 13 ; vide introductory chapter.

Hammer and click, cause of the defect, 51.

Hand-ruhbing, 174.

Haw, its construction, 120.

Heels, 71.

Hereditary disease, 312.

Hoof, its fonn, &c., 68 ; colour important, 80; temperature, 92-

Horse and Carriage Registry; vide preface; also 38, and

the Appendix.
Horse.

apparent strength and size important, 53,

paces, mode of judging, 56.

action described, 58.

height, mode of judging, 62.

courage, a useful quality, 63.

form of, important, 106, 138.

for draught, 138.

treatment of, 164; at sea, 174; after travellings 175.

dressing, 172.

clothing, 176.

leg-bandaging, 178.

382

Horse, continued.

clipping, 176.

exercise, 178.

diet, 181 ; of sick horses, 189.

vicious, the management of, 202 ; and seq., also 354.
Horseman's Manual, vide note, 292.
Hunters, their fitness for the road, 6, 56.

Inflammation, 77, 286 ; indicated by the eye, 122; symptoms,

189 ; treatment, 192, 193, 196.
Inn-keepers, 345 ; see Warranty.

Kenrick, Mr., 41.

Knee-joint, observations to he made before purchasing, 95 6c seq.

Lameness, 98; slight lameness, 112; after shoeing, 195;

temporary, 304 ; unsoundness, 304.
Lawrence, Mr. John, his definition of soundness, 291.
Livery stable-keepers, 344 ; see Warranty.
Local injury, treatment of, 194.

Mares, not safe for harness, 143.

Masters, see Warranty.

Mavor, Mr., his definition of soundness, 292 ; vide note.

Morris's (now Allen's) sale yard, 210; see Appendix.

Navicular bone, 72.
Nerving, 310.

Ophthalmia, 311.

Osborne, Mr., 90, 355 ; see also Appendix, and introductory
chapter.

Park-horses, 7.

Pastern, 64.

Patent defects not covered by warranty, 274, 308, 309.

Pulsation, 190.

I

383

Purchaser.

tlie precautions to be taten "by, 9, 67, 134, 138, 156,

264, 279, et passim,
his best course to buy, 38 and seq.
precaution on buying for harness, 137, 138, 143.
caution on returning a horse, 158.

Quittor, 316.

Refusal of food, unsoundness, 316.

Rent, liability of horses at livery to distress for, 345.

Return, 316, see Warranty.

Rheumatism, 100.

Riders, hints to timid, 205.

Ringbone, its indications, 64.

Robinson's Repository, see Appendix.

Roaring, 103, 281, 301, 325.

Running thrush, 78.

Sand-crack, 76, 316.

Seller.

conduct to be observed on the sale of horses, 281, 351,
and seq.

liability to strangers on fraudulent sale of a vicious horse,
353.
Sewell, Professor, 75, 86, 158, 180, 296, 310.
Shape, badness of, not unsoundness, 314.
Shoeing, with leather, 180 ; the principle of shoeing, 73.
Sinews, back, 83.
Sole, 71.

Sore back, 134, 195.
Soundness, defined, 289 and seq.
Spavin, indicated by cutting, 90 ; unsoundness, 316.
Speedy cut, 31.
Splents, 86, 308.

Stables, their construction and arrangement, 166 and seq.
Stolen horses, 238, see Warranty,

384

Stopping the feet, 179.

Statute of Frauds, see Warranty. 1

Strains, treatment of, 196.

Strangles, 130.

String-halt, 111.

Sunday, dealing on, 235, see Warranty. T

Swelled leg, 110, 171.

Taplin, Mr., his definition of soundness, 291.
Tattersall, Mr. 355, see Appendix.
Teeth, 127.

Temporary lameness, 303, 316.
Thompson, Mr., 139, 142.
Thorough-pin, 109, 325.
Thrush, see Running Thrush.
Travellers, hints to equestrian, 185.

Unsoundness, summary of decided cases, 315 and seq.

Veterinary College, 191.

Vice, 135, 353.

Viewing horses, morning the best time, 112.

Warranty.

a principle of construction suggested, 295 and seq.
express,

what is, 242.

vendor undertakes it is true at the time of making it,

325, 326.
must be express, or fraud must have been practised to

maintain an action, 252.
what amounts to, 265 and seq.

sale made on faith of, period of time when given, im-
material, 257.
when written, no agreement stamp required, 268.
patent defects in a horse not covered by, 274.

385

Warranty, continued.

both vendor and purchaser held strictly to the terms of,

276.
distinguished from bona fide representations, 278.
after purchase is invalid, 279.
what amounts to acknowledgment of warranty given,

280.
given at seller's peril, whether he knows of unsound-
' ness or not, 289.

continuing, explained, 305.

remedy for breach of, 317.

value of, in respect of price, 353.

implied, 246.

definition of, 273.

when particular article required, 243.

of soundness, cannot be implied in horse-dealing, 245.

cases of, 246 and seq.

distinguished as regards commodities of fixed value,

and a horse, 248.
continuing, 305.
Agent.

employed to sell may exercise a discretion in warranting,

281.
may warrant contrary to his employer's instructions, ih.
and will fix his employer, ih.
in what cases, 282.

distinction between servant of a horse dealer, and an-
other, 284.
authorised to sell, has implied authority to receive the
proceeds, in the absence of advice to the contrary, 334.
Auction.

when pufi'ers are employed without its being declared,
purchaser cannot be compelled to complete the con-
tract, 333.

2 c

me

Auction, continued.

when the conditions of sale are declared to be " the usual

conditions," purchaser bound to take notice of them, if

posted in a conspicuous place, 331.
not so, if fixed up in a private yard, 330.

Auctioneer.

is the lawfully authorized agent of both parties, 234.

Contract.

what is sufficient within the Statute of Frauds, 233, 234.

must be signed either by the parties or their agents, 233.

agent need not possess authority in writing, 234.

sufficient authority if sustained by the circumstances in
which he is placed, ib.

exact terms of warranty should be included in, 275.

difference between contract relating to land and goods, 233.

all representations previously made, should be introduced
into, 260.

otherwise purchaser bound by, ib.
Damages, measure of, 287, 336.
Delivery within the Statute of Frauds.

definition of, 223.

may be either actual or constructive, ib.

what constitutes an actual, ib.

when need not be actual, 227.

what constitutes a constructive, ib.

question of, treated with strictness by the courts, ib.

when purchaser writes his name on article, ib.

difference where he puts a mark, 228.

to a party named by purchaser sufficient, 230,

Earnest, Payment of,
definition of, 231, 232.

no unwritten contract for goods above £10 good without,
222.

387

Earnest, payment of, continued.

except buyer receive the goods sold, 222.
constructive payment of earnest, not sufficient, 231.
difiference between, and part performance, 231.

Evidence.

in an action on a warranty, purchaser must prove the

horse to have been unsound at the time sold, 286.
it is not suflScient to induce suspicion, 287.
of breach of warranty, admissible to reduce damages, 318.
of a former seller, with warranty admissible, without a

release, 335 ; but this decision doubtful, ib.

Fraud.

representations made at the time of sale, if fraudulent,

make the seller liable, 245.
avoids a contract, ah initio^ ib.

when the seller is not liable for false representations, 259.
distinction between false representations of facts and

opinion, 265.
will avoid the sale of a horse with a wan'anty, though it is

not on any point included in warranty, 267.
doubtful, if it is competent to a buyer to object to sale on

account of, at aii^ time, 270.
if purchaser after discovery of, deals with the article as

his own, he cannot repudiate the contract, 272.
discovery of a second fraud does not revive his right to

repudiate contract, ib.
Inn-keeper.

has a lien upon the horse for his keep, unless known to

have been illegally obtained, 343.
compellable by law to take in strangers and their cattle, 344.
horses placed in stables of, not liable to distress for

rent, 845.
his general responsibility, 346, 347.
2c2

388

Livery Stable-keeper.

not compellable to take in horses, 344.
has no lien upon the horses, unless by special agree-
ment, 344.
horses placed in stables of, liable to distress for rent, 345.
Masters, see Agent.
Return.

horse in no instance, can be returned for breach of war-
ranty, 316 and seq.
unless there is a stipulation in contract, 320.
and then as soon as defects discovered, 321.
unless induced by seller to prolong the trial, 324.
action lies for breach of warranty, without return, or
notice of unsoundness, 324, 325.

Statute of Frauds, (29 Char. II., cap. 3rd.)

construction of, in reference to agency of auctioneer,
235.

authority of agent to sign a memorandum, ib.

what is a sufficient memorandum, within, 234.

may be signed by parties or their agents, ib.

auctioneer is an agent of both parties, ib.

no contract for sale of any goods above £10, valid
under, 222.

unless part accepted, ib., and acceptance must be un-
equivocal, 230.

or earnest money given, 222.

unless a note or memorandum made, ib.

signed by both parties, ib.

or their agents, ib.

Stolen Horses.

no title can be made to, 241.

res'itution secured by 21 Hen. VIII., cap. 11, 239,

may be ordered in a summary way, ib.

389

Stolen Horses, continued.

under (Peel's Act) 7 and 8 Geo. IV. cap. 29, 239.

may be enforced against any party in whose possession
they are, except where purchased in market overt, ib.

as to sale of stolen horses in fairs and markets, 240.

horses may be recovered within six months after sale in
overt market, ib.

by summary process before a magistrate, on tender of
price bcmafide paid, and so far diflfer from other stolen
goods, 241.

in what cases magistrates have no power to order re-
delivery, 242.

Sunday.

bargains made on, void if in pursuit of ordinary calling,

236, 237.
when not void, ib.
action cannot be maintained by dealer, on contract made

on, 238.
vendor not allowed to set up in answer to an action on
the warranty, that he was a dealer, and that the horse
was sold on a Sunday, 238.
but buyer must not be aware of vendor's profession, ib.
when subsequent promise to pay sufficient, though the
contract was made on, ib.
Wimbush, Mr. 41.
Wind, 101.
Windgalls, 83.
Woodin, Mr., 74, vide also introductory chapter and preface.

Work.

the description required, an important consideration, 12.
its effects in occasioning a loss of appetite, 18.
change in its usual character prejudicial, 295.

LIST OF CASES QUOTED.

Page

Adam v. Richards . 324

Alexander v. Gibson . 282

Ashbourne v. Price . 284

Atterbury v. Fairmaner . 313

Baglehole v. Walters . 251

Baldey v. Parker . 228

Baldwin v. Dixon . 336

Bassett v. Collis . 302

Bayley v. Merrel . 274

Beedle v. Morris . 346

Best V. Osborne . 310

Bexwell v. Christie . 334

Biss V. Mountain . 335

Blenkinsop v. Clayton . 231

Bloxsome v. Williams . 237

Bluett V. Osborne . 243

Bramley V.Alt . . 334

Bray v. Mayne . .341

Bridge V. Wain . 247

Briggs V. Crick . . 335

Broadwater v. Blot . 347

Page

Broennenburg v. Haycock 311
Buchanan v. Parnshaw . 330
Budd V. Fairmaner 277, 310
By water v. Richardson . 331

Campbell v. Flenjing . 271

Capel V. Thornton . 334

Carter v. Touissant . 225

Caswell V. Coare . 336

Cave V. Coleridge . 269

Cellis V. Mortimer . 329

Chandelor v. Lopus . 254

Champion v. Plummer . 234

Chaplin v. Rogers . 226
Chestei-man v. Lamb 328, 337

Clifton V. Walmesley . 262

Clinan v. Cooke . 233

Coggs V. Bernard . 347

Coles V. Trecothick . 235

Coltherd v. Puncheon . 276

Conolly V. Parsons . 333

Cooper V. Barton . 342

391

Page

Page

Cormack v. Gillis

321

Francis v. Wyatt

. 345

Crosier v. Tomkinson

345

Cross V. Andrews

345

Gardiner v. Gray .

. 246

Cro^vder v. Austin

333

Garment v. Barrs

. 303

Curtis V. Hannay

318

Geddes v. Pennington

. 277

Gompertz v. Denton

. 317

Dawes v. King .

251

Gray v. Cox

. 248

Dean v. Keate .

342

Grimson v. Woodfall

. 238

De Sewhanberg v. Bu-

Gunnis v. Erhart

. 332

clianan

279

Dickinson v. Gapp

278

Handford v. Palmer

. 341

Dickinson v. Follett

314

Hart V. Sattley .

. 231

Dobell V. Stevens .

268

Hellyer v. Hawkes

253, 281

Dmiy V. De Fontaine .

236

Hern v. Nicholls

. 246

Dunlop V. Waugh

259

Hodgson V. Le Bret

. 227

Dutton V. Solomonson .

231

Hopkins v. Appleby

. 329

Dyer v. Hargrave

274

Horwood V. Smith

. 240

Howard v. Castle

. 333

Earl V. Patterson

311

Eaves v. Dickson

286

Jeflferey v. Walton

. 261

Egertou v. Matthews

234

Jelly V. Clerk .

. 346

Elmore v. Kingscote

234

Jewdwine v. Slade

. 258

Elmore v. Stone

224

Johnson v. Hill .

. 343

Elton V. Brogden

304

Joliff V. Baudel .

. 312

Emanuel v. Dane

320

Jones V. Bright .

. 250

Evans v. Bicknell

257

Jones V. Pearl .

. 346

Eyre v. Dunsford

257

Josephs V. Adkins

. 241

Fenn v. Harrison

284

Kain V. Old

. 260

Fennel v. Ridler

237

King V. Boston .

. 321

Fielder v. Starkin

324

King V. Wheatley

. 272

Fingall (Lord) v. Ross

233

Fleming v. Simpson

244

Laing v. Fidgeon

. 246

Fletcher v. Bowsher

248

Larbalistier v. Clarke

. 336

392

Leak v. Morrice

Page
. 233

Lewis V. Peake

. 288

Liddard v. Kain

. 305

Main v. Melbourne

. 233

Margetson v. Wright

. 275

M'Kenzie v. Hancock

338

Mellish V. Motten

. 250

Mesnard v. Aldridge

. 329

Miles V. Sheward

. 340

Morish v. Foote

. 336

Nicholle v. Plume . 230

Okell V. Smith ' . 332

Onslow V. Eames . 301

Packer v. Gillies . 239

Parker v. Patrick . 240

Parkinson v. Lee . 257

Pasley v. Freeman . 254

Patteshall v. Tranter . 327

Payne v. Whale . 280

Percival v. Blake . 271

Pickering v. Busk . 284

Pickering V. Dowson . 251

Power V. Wells . 320

Prosser v. Hooper . 249

Richardson v. Brown . 279

Rosuel V. Vaughan . 254

Page

Salmon v. Ward . 269

Samuel v. Wright . 343

Scheider v. Heath . 251

Schneider v. Norris . 234
Scotland (Bank) v. Watson 284

Shepherd v. Kain . 247

Shillito V. Claridge 290, 306

Skrine v. Elmore . 268

Smith V. Lawrence . 343

Springwell v. Allen . 258

Steward v. Coesvelt . 267

Street v. Blay 317, 324

Strode v. Dyson . 284

Stuart V. Wilkins . 273

Symonds v. Carr . 285

Tapp V. Lee . 253

Tempest v. Fitzgerald . 230
Thompson v. Macirone . 229
Towers v. Barrett 281, 320

Vernon v. Keys . 257

Wallace v. Woodgate . 344

Watt V. Evans . 233

Weston V. Downs . 320

Williams v. Paul . 238

Williamson v. Allison . 258

Woodin V. Burford . 284

Wood V. Smith 253, 268

York V. Grinstone . 346

Q

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